The Mithai Box Is Not Empty - Namrata Agarwal - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Namrata Agarwal

ILLUSTRATOR: Parvati Pillai

GENRE: Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: September 30, 2025

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A picture book focussed on a little girl who takes the philosophy of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ too seriously. I liked the story and the illustrations, but didn’t love them. There was room for improvement in both. Still, recommended to those who wish to read about this traditional Indian approach towards welcoming guests.

Plot Preview:

Ria is very excited to see her paternal grandparents who are coming for a visit after two years all the way from India. She wants to have the perfect chai party to celebrate. Baba and Dadi arrive, as expected, with plenty of gifts for Ria, including a mithai (sweets) box. Ria is very excited!

Soon, the other guests start arriving for the chai party. Ria’s grandparents have taught her the traditional Indian philosophy of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ (We welcome our guests like they are gods), so Ria is determined to become the best hostess for this party, even if it means offering them some of those tasty mithais to the visitors. But soon the mithai start running out… Will Ria get a taste of the mithai before it is too late?

Ria is a sweet character. I love how sincere she is in her role as the hostess. She also listens to her elders with respect and helps her mom ready the house for guests. An ideal Indian child, haha! Her sidekick, Cheetah the dog, was hilarious – a good addition in the background scenes.

I do not have a sweet tooth. Most store-bought Indian desserts are overly sweet (for my preference), so I have only a couple of favourite mithais. But even I, with my fondness for savoury foodstuffs, can vouch for the variety of Indian desserts. It was a treat to see a book highlight our mithai box, an ordinary box containing an extraordinary assortment of mixed sweets. It is a standard gift item during festivals and visits to relatives. The contents of the box in this book made me hungry!

‘Atithi devo bhava’ is the way of life here, no matter which part of the country we come from or which religion we belong to. When guests come home, they get the royal treatment. However, this doesn’t equate to ‘Give guests everything even if you don’t have anything left for yourselves.’ The book rightly points out that it means “sharing” what you have. But the inherent meaning of sharing is “keep some for yourself and give some to others”; it’s a joint endeavour. While the book does have a happy ending for Ria, I wish she had listened to the aunt who told her to eat a laddoo before they ran out. Self-care is also important.

The illustrations were good to some extent. I liked Ria’s sparkly gold earrings and her flowy dupatta. Dadi is adorable, traditional with her saree and bindi but also quite mod with her medium bobbed hair and cat-eye frames. However, the colour tone is somehow brown-dominant, and I don’t say this because of the many brown people in the book. Cheetah the dog is brown, as is Ria’s kurti (a mustard brown). Many of the dishes such as the samosas and the bakharwadis are in brown hues, as is most of the furniture and also the upholstered armchair in the background. I know some of these actually belong to the brown family shade, but perhaps variables such as Ria’s outfit and the armchair could have been in different colours.

The book ends with a sweet note by the author detailing how the story came into being. There is also a list of Indian mithais and a mithai-matching game. A glossary explains the meaning of all Indian words used in the story.

Overall, while I didn’t like the story as much as I had expected, I did like its intent and its focus on the Indian approach towards guests. I just wish it passed on a better lesson about sharing.

Recommended to those interested in a culturally-inclusive picture book. The language and content would be great for readers aged 4 to 7 years.

My thanks to Holiday House and Peachtree for providing the DRC of “The Mithai Box Is Not Empty” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.