AWE-SAMOSAS!

A young girl of Pakistani descent whips up a traditional treat with a twist.

Noor is excited for her friends to visit, but she can’t decide what to serve them. Her father offers to order pizza, but Noor wants to make grandmother Dadijaan’s special potato and pea samosas. Her excitement turns to disappointment when she realizes she doesn’t have the recipe or the right ingredients—and it’s too early to call Dadijaan, who lives in Pakistan. Her father advises her to make do with what she has, and her pet parrot pipes up with an encouraging Urdu phrase that Noor’s grandmother often says: “Sab theek hai. Sab theek hoga!” (“Everything’s great. Everything’s going to be okay!”) Noor decides to make samosas with unique fillings. Soon, father and daughter are chopping, peeling, and grinding away. When it’s time to fill the samosa wraps, however, Noor’s attempts are less than successful. But she refuses to give up, and inspiration strikes when she recalls that her grandmother wraps the samosas the same way she ties her scarf into a turban—“TWIST, FLIP, FOLD, AND…TUCK!” Her friends bite into little triangles of delicious and unexpected flavors of apple-cinnamon, cheesy pepperoni, and honey-pistachio samosas. Though the word awe-samosas is a bit overused, Noor’s plucky problem-solving and her encouraging cheerleaders help buoy the book. Illustrations that vary between close-ups and lively alternating perspectives evoke a cozy, bustling kitchen.

A joyful story of one child’s can-do spirit and tasty endings.