A Garland of Henna

by Varsha Bajaj, Archana Sreenivasan (Illustrator)

Overview

Nikita’s family takes pride in creating beautiful henna art, and she’s ready to try her hand at it—but it’s harder than it looks!

Nikita is part of a long line of henna artists. Her grandmother even brought a treasured notebook of designs with her to the US when she moved here from India. But the first time Nikita tries to make henna art, the mehndi paste looks like an ugly blob, and she feels like giving up. Still, she continues watching her mother and grandmother make gardens bloom on hands and is intrigued by the beauty of it all. Will she find the courage to try again?

New York Times bestselling author Varsha Bajaj’s poetic text and Archana Sreenivasan’s dynamic illustrations perfectly capture Nikita’s frustration, then pride, as she takes part in a beautiful family tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593325117
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,107,596
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD520L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Varsha Bajaj (varshabajaj.com) is the author of the middle grade novels Thirst (a New York Times bestseller and Global Read Aloud selection), Count Me In, and Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood. She also wrote the picture books The Home Builders (an Imagination Library selection, 2020–2024) and This Is Our Baby, Born Today (a Bank Street Best Book). She grew up in Mumbai, India, and when she came to the United States to obtain her master’s degree, her adjustment to the country was aided by her awareness of the culture through books. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Archana Sreenivasan (archanasreenivasan.com) is an illustrator based in Bangalore, India. Her books with starred reviews include Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy by Tara Dairman and the award-winning Seven Golden Rings by Rajani LaRocca. In 2023, she debuted as author-illustrator with her board book India on a Plate! She studied animation film design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and participated in a summer residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she studied illustration.

Editorial Reviews

05/20/2024

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. (June)

Publishers Weekly

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.” —Kirkus Reviews

“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. . . . 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.” —Publishers Weekly

“The familiar picture book theme of persistence is given a fresh, distinct style here, as garlands of henna designs wind through the textured, vibrant art, eventually culminating in a triumphant spread that sees the smiling faces of Nikita, Nani, and Mom beaming from flowers. Nikita is a wonderfully relatable protagonist, and her frustration, fear, and pride are deftly conveyed through body posture—the hunched shoulders and locked knees as she marches off in anger will surely be recognizable to any kid or caretaker. . . . A compassionate look at the effort it sometimes takes to get the family tradition down just right.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

2024-04-20
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)

Kirkus Reviews