MAA'S MAGICAL SAREE

An Indian child’s mother uses colors to teach life lessons in A.’s picture book.

The story opens with a boy talking about how their Maa is his favorite person, as she teaches him how to be kind and good. The child explains that he sees Maa’s wisdom in the color of the saree that she puts on each morning. In the color blue, the boy sees the limitless sky, and green makes him think about how trees “give us air to breathe, and leaves that can help us heal.” Greenish-blue waves remind Maa to talk about how things come and go in life. Red is powerful like the goddess Devi, and yellow reminds mother and child of Krishna because it represents a happy mind. Maa imparts further wisdom by wearing joyful white to celebrate or black when bogged down by others’ emotions. The story ends with the narrator meditating on how all life is connected worldwide. Overall, the text offers a beautiful parenting story. Aggarwal’s bright, full-color, painterly illustrations feature plenty of background detail to situate each scene properly. The human characters, who are depicted with various shades of brown skin, could have been more realistically detailed; many lack necks or seem awkwardly positioned. An author’s note for adults and a detailed glossary appear after the story.

A well-illustrated story of honoring family and culture.