Cover of Nadia's Hands

Nadia's Hands

Saturday is Auntie Laila's wedding day and Nadia has been chosen as flower girl. The morning of the ceremony, Auntie Amina prepares Nadia's hands in the traditional way. Using henna, a natural dye, she creates intricate designs, called mehndi, on Nadia's hands. But Nadia is worried. Mehndi lasts a long time and doesn't wash off right away. When she goes to school on Monday, what will her classmates think of her hands? Will they understand that mehndi is part of her Pakistani heritage? By the afternoon, Nadia is swept up in the excitement of the wedding. Now she can't wait till Monday, when she can "share her hands from Pakistan" with the kids at school. Karen English's loving story of a Pakistani-American girl, who comes to an understanding of the rich culture she has inherited, is vividly illustrated by Jonathan Weiner.

Themes
diversity
Setting
1990sIndiaAsia
Audience
picture bookschildrens
Length
short · 32 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Nadia's Hands? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Nadia's Hands. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. My Dadima Wears a Sari Shares picture books, multicultural, childrens
  2. The Worry Stone Shares picture books, childrens, multicultural
  3. Dad, Jackie, and Me Shares picture books, childrens, multicultural
  4. Raising Dragons Shares picture books, childrens, fiction

“People who read Nadia's Hands tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Suki's Kimono
  2. Belinda the Ballerina
  3. Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu
  4. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You?

“If you want more of the same (literary fiction about diversity), start with these.”

  1. Jeremiah Learns to Read
  2. The Old Man and His Door
  3. Nappy Hair
  4. Whoever You Are

“If it was the multicultural that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo
  2. What If Your Best Friend Were Blue?
  3. Mama's Saris
  4. One Green Apple

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Meditations Through Coloring
  2. Karen's Wedding
  3. The Comeback Season
  4. Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding