Saturday is Auntie Lailas wedding day and Nadia has been chosen as flower girl. The morning of the ceremony, Auntie Amina prepares Nadias hands in the traditional way. Using henna, a natural dye, she creates intricate designs, called mehndi, on Nadias hands. But Nadia is worried. Mehndi lasts a long time and doesnt wash off right away. When she goes to school on Monday, what will her classmates think of her hands? Will they understand that mehndi is part of her Pakistani heritage? By the afternoon, Nadia is swept up in the excitement of the wedding. Now she cant wait till Monday, when she can "share her hands from Pakistan" with the kids at school. Karen Englishs loving story of a Pakistani-American girl, who comes to an understanding of the rich culture she has inherited, is vividly illustrated by Jonathan Weiner.

Booklist , March 1, 1999 Hazel Rochman
A Pakistani-American girl is pleased to be flower girl at her aunts traditional wedding, but she worries about it, not only about messing up her role of sprinkling rose petals down the aisle but also about having her hands painted with mehndi (henna paste). What will the kids at school think of her orange hands with their intricate designs? Weiners full-page oil pastel illustrations show the wedding preparations and the ceremony. The best pictures focus closely on the details of Nadias amber hands, decorated with deep orange flowers and swirls of stars, as she comes to see the richness of her tradition and what it means to her loving extended family. Children will enjoy the wedding story, and many will recognize how a family custom can be a source of both embarrassment and pride.