How to Wear a Sari by Darshana Khiani

Abstract

Reviewed by: How to Wear a Sari by Darshana Khiani Elizabeth Bush Khiani, Darshana How to Wear a Sari; illus. by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. Versify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021 [32 p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781328635204 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780358531883 $12.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs The young narrator in this giggle-inducing picture book romp is determined to make a grand entrance and delight her relatives at a family party, and she's delighted to school her audience in how to rock a sari. After ransacking her mother's wardrobe for the perfect sparkly fabric, the real work of wrangling the yards of cloth around her petite frame begins. First attempt—oops. You have to put on the blouse and petticoat before the sari. Next step—oops. Pleats are darned hard to manage. Next step—oops, wrong size ("Suck in your belly and tuck"). Finally, looking good—oops. [End Page 428] Tangling her mother's high heels in the sari sends her sprawling onto the dinner table, wiping out the food and setting relatives gasping (and, yes, laughing too) at her sartorial mishap. Lew-Vriethoff's energetic illustrations aptly capture the bumbling confidence of the pig-tailed moppet, whose brown skin sets the bright greens and gold of the voluminous sari aglow, and whose ethnically diverse extended family are collectively comfortable in a range of traditional and contemporary fashions. Kids who cringe at the idea of disgracing themselves in public will be relieved to see how quickly the narrator recovers, happily claiming her place in the family photo album of the relatives' most embarrassing moments. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois