A Garland of Henna

May 15, 2024
A young South Asian girl is enthralled by her mother's henna designs. Nikita watches in awe as Mom draws on the child's hands--will she ever be able to create such delicate patterns? Her mother and grandmother remind her that she comes from a long line of henna artists and she, too, will learn. Nikita uses scrap paper to practice designs from her grandmother's notebook, filled with patterns. One day her grandmother hands her a cone filled with mehndi, but in her eagerness, Nikita squeezes too hard, and the paste creates an ugly smudge. Upset and frustrated, she withdraws, watching her mother and grandmother from afar. One day, when her mother goes to a wedding to apply bridal henna, Nikita tags along. Amid the festive atmosphere, she watches closely as her mother creates intricate patterns on the bride's hand. Ready to try again the next day, with gentle strokes, Nikita creates a small pattern on her grandmother's hand. Bajaj sensitively explores the frustration children encounter when trying new tasks. With gentle coaxing from her family, Nikita learns to trust herself and take pride in her henna art. Dynamic illustrations filled with traditional floral designs of creeping vines, blossoming flowers, and paisleys trail across the pages. The hues of henna--which is dark green when first applied and dries to a warm red--are reflected in the earthy colors throughout the story. A warm and tender tale of family traditions. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)

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May 20, 2024
Born into “a long garland/ of teachers and keepers of art,” a girl worries over her early efforts at rendering henna designs in this rhythmically narrated and lusciously drawn tale. After her mother makes “one seed,// two stems,/ three leaves,/ four flowers” bloom on Nikita’s palm, Mom and Nani tell the child they will teach her, too. Nikita consults the henna notebook that Nani carried from India, and practices on paper, but when Nani gives Nikita a cone filled with mehndi paste, Nikita squeezes too hard, creating an ugly blot on Nani’s palm. She worries (“What if I can’t draw like them? What if I can’t learn like them?”), but an outing and further practice suggest that the child will “one day... become part of her family’s long garden.” Henna art motifs swirl throughout Sreenivasan’s gold- and olive-hued digital drawings, offering henna portraits of Nikita’s family, while Bajaj’s prose amplifies various aspects of henna art in this connective work. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–7.