A SARI FOR AMMI

In the Indian village of Kaithoon, a mother weaves gorgeous saris at her loom.

The woman’s daughter notices that even though Ammi is a talented sari maker, she never wears the saris she creates, opting instead for worn-out pairs of salwar kameez. The daughter enlists her sister, Sadaf, to find a way to buy a new sari for Ammi. The girls break open their gullak to see how much money they have inside. When they find what they’ve saved in their money jar isn’t enough, they look for items they can sell to the scrap dealer in their village. Even after selling bottles, tin cans, and newspaper they find around the house, the sisters are still short of the funds they need. They decide to go to visit neighbor Amina Khala, who is also a sari weaver—although not as talented as Ammi—and who pays the girls to dye threads that she will use in her designs. Finally, they have enough to go to market and to buy Ammi one of her own exquisite saris. According to the author’s note, the protagonists are part of a Muslim community of weavers that migrated from the Indian state of Karnataka to settle in Rajasthan in the 17th and 18th centuries. The sweet and gentle story organically integrates details about the daily lives of these skilled and rarely represented craftspeople. The cartoonlike illustrations are full of color, texture, and detail.

This delightful picture book shines a spotlight on a rural, underrepresented Indian Muslim community.