Zenia Wadhwani and Avani Dwivedi embrace readers in colourful joy in their picture book Once Upon a Sari.

A young girl is caught in her mother’s bedroom surrounded by all the colours of the rainbow. She has gotten into Mama’s saris and is exploring each one. When Mama catches her, she lovingly explains the story of each sari in her collection.

Zenia Wadhwani not only celebrates the cultural dress of the sari, she also explains the differences between the different sari’s from different parts of India, each style having it’s own special name that turn out to be very fun to say! I love how Zenia Wadhwani takes the time through the text to teach readers the significance of the saris and how each sari comes with it’s own special story and remembrance. These are the stories of family.

The text also does allude to the Partition in India in 1947 explaining it was a scary and sad time in India but staying together as a family and having a sari to remember the story of struggle and perseverance is a concrete way to share stories with the younger generation. While you would need to do further research to understand the politics of the time, Zenia Wadhwani shares a story of displacement that many readers will understand. What stands out the most is this story is pure joy, the joy of story, of family and of the colourful sari.

In the photos for this book, I was able to borrow a couple beautiful dupattas from my friend Zainobia and when she brought them for me, she also shared the story of the items, when they were worn, who made them, why she loves them. This interaction truly brought the story to life in a whole new way and made me think, wouldn’t it be wonderful to share this story and invite a student or a friend to share their sari stories as well.

Avani Dwivedi’s illustrations are gorgeous. She understood this assignment and created a tapestry of gorgeous colour. The illustrations are a delicious feast for the eyes and definitely draw readers into the pages. I can just picture the young readers seeing the depictions of the fabric and connecting them to the fabric in their own lives.