Status
Coming Soon
Call number
Collection
Genres
Publication
New York : Little, Brown, 2007.
Description
An East Indian American daughter pleads with her mother to be allowed to wear one of her mother's colorful saris in honor of her seventh birthday.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
In this engaging picture-book debut from Pooja Makhijani, a young girl observes her mother preparing for a party, helping her to sort through her many beautiful saris, kept in a suitcase under the bed. Worn only on special occasions, these brilliantly hued swathes of fabric hold a special
Chosen as one of our May selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "mothers," Mama's Saris is an appealing depiction of a common girlhood experience - wanting to dress up in adult clothing - as well as a culturally specific practice (wearing a sari). It works as a mother-daughter story, and as a tale about blending traditional and contemporary cultural practices. I did find the narrative a bit stiff at times, but the story still had charm, and the artwork, done in acrylic by Selena Gomez, was lovely. Recommended, together with My Dadima Wears a Sari, to young girls who long to be adults, and to look like their mothers, and to anyone looking for picture-books with an Indian and/or South Asian theme.
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significance for the girl and her mother, recalling special moments in the life of their family, from the bright red wedding sari, to the fiery orange sari worn when the mother first brought her little girl home from the hospital. Pleading to be allowed to wear one herself, despite her youth, the girl strikes a chord with her mother, who recalls wanting to dress up like her mother, and is soon clothed in a deep blue sari, in honor of her seventh birthday...Chosen as one of our May selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "mothers," Mama's Saris is an appealing depiction of a common girlhood experience - wanting to dress up in adult clothing - as well as a culturally specific practice (wearing a sari). It works as a mother-daughter story, and as a tale about blending traditional and contemporary cultural practices. I did find the narrative a bit stiff at times, but the story still had charm, and the artwork, done in acrylic by Selena Gomez, was lovely. Recommended, together with My Dadima Wears a Sari, to young girls who long to be adults, and to look like their mothers, and to anyone looking for picture-books with an Indian and/or South Asian theme.
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LibraryThing member limeminearia
A girl is turning seven and more than anything she wants to wear one of her mother’s beautiful saris. But her mother says saris are for when she’s older. She suggests she wear her chaniya choli instead. But the girl doesn’t just want to be dressed up. She wants to dress like her mother does
“I wore that one the day we brought you home from the hospital.” Mama smiles. “All your aunties and uncles came to greet you.”
After much wheedling the mother relents and lets her daughter pick a sari. She agrees that from now on she can wear a sari on her birthday and helps her pin the blue and gold fabric so that it almost fits her. The daughter is delighted:
“I feel like I am floating in an ocean of blue. The shiny material makes me sparkle. I think it looks beautiful. I run my fingers along the edge of my sari and turn to look into Mama’s big brown eyes. ‘I think I look like you!’”
As journalist Shoba Narayan explains in an article for Newsweek (“I Wonder: Was It Me Or the Sari?”) “In India, saris are adult attire… The sari is six yards of fabric folded into a graceful yet cumbersome garment. Like a souffle, it is fragile and can fall apart at any moment. When worn right, it is supremely elegant and unabashedly feminine.”
Given this background it is no wonder that for our young protagonist sari-wearing is the ultimate birthday gift, opening doorways for her not just to a cultural history but to womanhood and glamour. This, like many of the multicultural picture books I have been reading for this class, specifically addresses the lives of second generation Americans. It is possible that if the girl were growing up in India she might not have gotten her wish, since it is likelier that wearing saris, at least for special occasions, would be seen as a given in her sartorial future. The mother in this story may be motivated by feelings similar to the ones that caused Narayan to take up daily sari-wearing for a month:
“Then I moved to New York and became a mother. I wanted to teach my 3-year-old daughter Indian values and traditions because I knew she would be profoundly different from her preschool classmates in religion (we are Hindus), eating habits (we are vegetarians) and the festivals we celebrated. Wearing a sari every day was my way of showing her that she could melt into the pot while retaining her individual flavor.”
Although the family in Mama’s Saris is clearly a part of an Indian- American community, with many visits from family and from friends (some of the “aunties” and “uncles” are friends, not blood relations) it is important to the girl that she gets a chance to touch and appreciate the saris. They are material representations of her parents culture, of the ways that their family is not just different, but culturally rich and beautiful. As Narayan concludes her sari-wearing month she feels a twinge of regret. She knows the sari is impractical for her New York lifestyle- she’s tired of feeling like an exhibit, of being treated like a foreigner feet from her home. Yet:
“My daughter oohed and aahed when I pulled out my colorful saris. When I cuddled her in my arms, scents from the vetiver sachets that I used to freshen my sari at night escaped from the folds of cloth and soothed her to sleep. I felt part of a long line of Indian mothers who had rocked their babies this way.”
Books like Mama’s Saris tap in to that same sense of wonder and connectedness and are a useful addition to library picture book collections. This is a good choice to recommend to teachers looking for books on self-esteem and girls, or who are looking for multicultural picture books. Based on my experience searching for books for this assignment it seems South Asian writers are under-represented by publishers and in library collections, even in areas like mine where there may be quite a lot of South Asians and buyers purchase broadly. It is important through participation on awards panels and book discussion groups to seek out the best materials that meet the needs of all of our users, including the needs of young children to see themselves reflected in media of all kinds. We can also increase visibility of works featuring cultural minorities by merchandizing our libraries mindfully, aware that we are not just making a display but communicating to our users what our libraries have to offer.
Makhijani, Pooja. Mama’s Saris. Illus. by Elena Gomez. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print.
Narayan, Shoba. “I Wonder: Was It Me or Was It My Sari?.” Newsweek. March 13, 2000. Web. February 28, 2010.
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for important occasions. Together they look through the saris remembering all the important moments they have been worn to mark, including the day after the girl was born:“I wore that one the day we brought you home from the hospital.” Mama smiles. “All your aunties and uncles came to greet you.”
After much wheedling the mother relents and lets her daughter pick a sari. She agrees that from now on she can wear a sari on her birthday and helps her pin the blue and gold fabric so that it almost fits her. The daughter is delighted:
“I feel like I am floating in an ocean of blue. The shiny material makes me sparkle. I think it looks beautiful. I run my fingers along the edge of my sari and turn to look into Mama’s big brown eyes. ‘I think I look like you!’”
As journalist Shoba Narayan explains in an article for Newsweek (“I Wonder: Was It Me Or the Sari?”) “In India, saris are adult attire… The sari is six yards of fabric folded into a graceful yet cumbersome garment. Like a souffle, it is fragile and can fall apart at any moment. When worn right, it is supremely elegant and unabashedly feminine.”
Given this background it is no wonder that for our young protagonist sari-wearing is the ultimate birthday gift, opening doorways for her not just to a cultural history but to womanhood and glamour. This, like many of the multicultural picture books I have been reading for this class, specifically addresses the lives of second generation Americans. It is possible that if the girl were growing up in India she might not have gotten her wish, since it is likelier that wearing saris, at least for special occasions, would be seen as a given in her sartorial future. The mother in this story may be motivated by feelings similar to the ones that caused Narayan to take up daily sari-wearing for a month:
“Then I moved to New York and became a mother. I wanted to teach my 3-year-old daughter Indian values and traditions because I knew she would be profoundly different from her preschool classmates in religion (we are Hindus), eating habits (we are vegetarians) and the festivals we celebrated. Wearing a sari every day was my way of showing her that she could melt into the pot while retaining her individual flavor.”
Although the family in Mama’s Saris is clearly a part of an Indian- American community, with many visits from family and from friends (some of the “aunties” and “uncles” are friends, not blood relations) it is important to the girl that she gets a chance to touch and appreciate the saris. They are material representations of her parents culture, of the ways that their family is not just different, but culturally rich and beautiful. As Narayan concludes her sari-wearing month she feels a twinge of regret. She knows the sari is impractical for her New York lifestyle- she’s tired of feeling like an exhibit, of being treated like a foreigner feet from her home. Yet:
“My daughter oohed and aahed when I pulled out my colorful saris. When I cuddled her in my arms, scents from the vetiver sachets that I used to freshen my sari at night escaped from the folds of cloth and soothed her to sleep. I felt part of a long line of Indian mothers who had rocked their babies this way.”
Books like Mama’s Saris tap in to that same sense of wonder and connectedness and are a useful addition to library picture book collections. This is a good choice to recommend to teachers looking for books on self-esteem and girls, or who are looking for multicultural picture books. Based on my experience searching for books for this assignment it seems South Asian writers are under-represented by publishers and in library collections, even in areas like mine where there may be quite a lot of South Asians and buyers purchase broadly. It is important through participation on awards panels and book discussion groups to seek out the best materials that meet the needs of all of our users, including the needs of young children to see themselves reflected in media of all kinds. We can also increase visibility of works featuring cultural minorities by merchandizing our libraries mindfully, aware that we are not just making a display but communicating to our users what our libraries have to offer.
Makhijani, Pooja. Mama’s Saris. Illus. by Elena Gomez. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007. Print.
Narayan, Shoba. “I Wonder: Was It Me or Was It My Sari?.” Newsweek. March 13, 2000. Web. February 28, 2010.
Show Less
LibraryThing member irisdovie
I read this book with my daughter, who is six, and we both totally related to it. I remembered wanting to wear my own mother’s kind of hippie dresses when I was little. We both enjoyed the beautiful illustrations and the story.
I found this book to be an excellent example of cultural
I found this book to be an excellent example of cultural
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authenticity, as the author is of Indian descent (it shows her picture). This book shows a person of any culture that many similarities exist between cultures – that a universality exists. I would suggest it to girls or mothers of girls. Show Less
LibraryThing member ebruno
A young girl helps pick out her mother's saris. She dreams about the day she will be old enough to wear one which might not be so far off in the future, since today is her birthday. This book does an excellent job showing the love and special relationship between a mother and daughter.
LibraryThing member Jill.Barrington
A girl has grown up longing to wear saris like her mother. Finally, on her eighth birthday, her mother agrees to allow her to wear one of her saris. The girl knows exactly which sari to choose and beams with pride in her mother's sari.
The book would be useful in a discussion about mothers and
The book would be useful in a discussion about mothers and
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rights of passage in families, cultures, and societies. Show Less
LibraryThing member NikoleJosh
Summary:
On the day of the young girl's seventh birthday she asks her mother if she can wear one of her sari's. Every sari holds a special memory and since she is a year older and wants to feel like a big girl she asks her mother if she could wear one of her sari's just once for her birthday. Her
My Response:
This book has very nice pictures and color detail. It tells an insight of a bonding moment between a mother and her daughter in India. I would recommend this book to young kids 8-12 years old.
Classroom Extension:
1)Ask students what they look forward to doing on their next birthday,how it will make them feel older.
2)What special bond did they ever share with their mom that was just between them two.
On the day of the young girl's seventh birthday she asks her mother if she can wear one of her sari's. Every sari holds a special memory and since she is a year older and wants to feel like a big girl she asks her mother if she could wear one of her sari's just once for her birthday. Her
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mother agrees and shares a bonding moment getting her daughter ready in a sari.My Response:
This book has very nice pictures and color detail. It tells an insight of a bonding moment between a mother and her daughter in India. I would recommend this book to young kids 8-12 years old.
Classroom Extension:
1)Ask students what they look forward to doing on their next birthday,how it will make them feel older.
2)What special bond did they ever share with their mom that was just between them two.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kclopez
This story is about a young American Indian girl who wants to wear a sari like her mother and grandmother do, but her mother feel she is too young to wear them. The girl is helping her mother pick out a sari to wear to her daughter's party, until he mother gives in and allows her to wear a sari,
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and the girl is happy and feels as beautiful as her mother. This is a good book to introduce the Indian culture to a class. Show Less
LibraryThing member lakertraw
This is a story about a seven year old who asks to dress in one of her mother's saris on her birthday. It is a story many young girls can relate to if they have ever played in their mother's makeup or tried to dress in her clothes. Appropriate to read from Pk through maybe 5th grade.
LibraryThing member efakkema09
Summary: The story of a seven year old girl who desperately wants to dress in the traditional Indian sari, just like her Mama. Because it is her birthday, her mother lets her wear one for the first time and the bright, light blue fabric makes her feel like a brand new girl.
Genre: Realistic
Media: acrylics
Genre: Realistic
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FictionMedia: acrylics
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LibraryThing member PaigeCostella
A little girl dreams of wearing a sari and being just like her mother. Her mother allows her to wear one of her saris since it is her seventh birthday, but her mother tells her it is only for today that she can wear one. Her mother dresses her up in her sari, anxiously awaiting to see what she will
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look like her mother tells her she is not ready and tells her do not peek. Mama puts the sari on her, puts bangles on her arm and a bindi between her eyebrows. Mother tells her she is ready and can now look in the mirror the little girls loves it and says she looks just like her mother. This is a great book to read to children about the different cultures and the different things that make them look and feel beautiful. Show Less
LibraryThing member mcrotti
Mama's Saris is an easy to read, beautifully illustrated picture book telling the story of a young Indian girl who wants to be like her mother. The story takes place in the mother's room, where she is trying on saris (a traditional Indian garment for women) to wear to her daughter's seventh
This book would be a lovely introduction to Indian culture for young readers. Most children can identify with playing dress up and wanting to emulate their parents. A small amount of Hindi words are scattered throughout the story, and a glossary is included to define them. Libraries could use this book at a storytime or similar program to introduce a new culture to beginning readers.
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birthday party. The daughter wants to be like a grown-up and wear a sari as well, but her mother tells her she is too young. Finally, she agrees that since it is her birthday, the daughter can wear a sari. The daughter is thrilled to look just like her mother.This book would be a lovely introduction to Indian culture for young readers. Most children can identify with playing dress up and wanting to emulate their parents. A small amount of Hindi words are scattered throughout the story, and a glossary is included to define them. Libraries could use this book at a storytime or similar program to introduce a new culture to beginning readers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Trillium242
This book is about a girl who loves her mama's saris. Her mama tells her stories about when she wore the saris and the girl hope to wear one. In the end mama dresses her daughter in a Sari. It is sweet book about the relationship between a mom and daughter.
Relationship Study- Family- multicultural
Relationship Study- Family- multicultural
LibraryThing member ktankers
I would use this book to show kids how we can always have our heros right at home.
LibraryThing member hlmusiclover
Mama's Saris captures the tender moment in every child's life when they want to model their parents or the person whom they admire. I loved how the author provides the reader with a few terms that are associated with Hindu culture. She also provides a personal note to give an account of her
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experience with playing dress up with her mother's clothes when she was a child. I especially loved the illustrations; the colors were vibrant and made the book such a pleasure to read. In the story, the narrator witnesses her mom getting dressed for her birthday party. She then pleads with her mother to allow her to wear a sari.The mother later gives into her request and she is allowed to pick one out of her suitcase. The mother adorns her with bangles and the sari which the narrator chooses. At the end of the story, the mother and daughter share a tender moment in which the admire each others beauty. When the mother asks her of her thoughts the narrator responds, "I think I look like you." Show Less
LibraryThing member jforrest21
It was cute a little girl who is making a birthday thinks she is old enough to start engaging in her culture. She also sees this as an opportunity to look like her mother and be like the other women in her family. It is a different culture that you could share with your class. You might find
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somebody in the class that can identify with this character. Show Less
LibraryThing member ccanizales
This story is about a seven year old girl who wants to be like her mother. On special occasions, Middle Eastern women wear beautiful saris. The little girl insists that she be allowed to wear one since it's her birthday. She loves the way her mother looks in them, and says she wants to be like her
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mother. She finally convinces her mom to let her wear one, and when she sees herself in the mirror, she is amazed and feels special. This is a great book to learn about other cultures. For grades 1st-2nd. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwesley
Mama's Saris is an adorable book about a girl who wants to wear her mother's saris. She helps her mother choose a sari to wear for her birthday. They recall different occasions when her mother wire a sari when she decides to plead with her mother to wear one for her birthday. The story's
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illustrations are absolutely beautiful and captivating. The author also provides a glossary of Hindu words that help the reader understand different words. Overall, Mama's Saris is an interesting book that will teach children about another culture's tradition. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tryante
In this great picture book the story tells of a mother and daughter who are getting dressed for the daughter's birthday party. The daughter is curious to find out about her mother's fancy clothing " Saris".
LibraryThing member SalemDjembe
This book is such a rich cultural treasure. It brings a whole new world to the attention of a young reader. It makes one who is not familiar with the Indian culture ask detailed questions such as "What is Cardamom"?
"What is a Sari?" "What is Diwali?" So many different experiences wrapped in the
It is a strong argument for cultural awareness for all. Beautiful book.
"What is a Sari?" "What is Diwali?" So many different experiences wrapped in the
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folds of these pages. The book also speaks of a strong cultural pride, handed down from generation to generation. It is a strong argument for cultural awareness for all. Beautiful book.
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Subjects
Language
Physical description
26 cm
ISBN
0316011053 / 9780316011051