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Rupa admires the beautiful saris that Dadima (her grandmother) wears every day, even though she wonders if her grandmother ever feels like wearing a skirt or pants instead. I never thought about it, Dadima answers, going on to explain a sari's many surprising uses: as an umbrella, a pouch for collecting seashells, even a bandage. In the final scenes, Dadima shows her collection of saris to Rupa and Rupa's sister, and she shares the special stories behind each elegant piece of cloth. Stories portraying Indian or Indian American families are rare for this age group, and Sheth's picture-book debut is a sturdy effort. The text consists mostly of dialogue between Dadima and her granddaughters, and the continuous, loving exchange heightens the intergenerational warmth that's extended in Jaeggi's delicate watercolors, particularly in scenes of Dadima and the girls unfurling luxurious lengths of cloth. Young listeners will want to follow the appended, illustrated instructions demonstrating how to wrap a sari. Suggest Rao Sandhya's My Mother's Sari (2006) to children wanting more. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2007 Booklist

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K-Gr 3-Soft watercolor paintings capture the magnificent fabrics of Dadima's saris and accentuate this loving story of a grandmother and her two granddaughters. When Rupa, the older girl, asks if Dadima misses wearing skirts or blouses or pants, the woman responds, "I never thought about it." When she asks, "Why not?" Dadima explains that it is because she can do so much with her sari. She can use the end, the pallu, as a fan for cooling, as a pocket for carrying shells, or as an umbrella in case of an unexpected storm. Inspired, Rupa generates a few ideas of her own, including tying a knot in the sari to remind her grandmother to give her a hug. A wonderful complement to Sandhya Rao's My Mother's Sari (North-South, 2006), this text, too, explains how to wrap the garment.-Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.