Meena's Saturday

As the cover illustration suggests, Saturdays in Meena’s house are very busy; Mum, Meena and her sisters have to prepare for all the visitors who come to see them each week. There is the house to clean, shopping to be bought and, as visitors start to arrive, lots of cooking to be done. Meena can’t help noticing it is the girls and women who do all the work while the men and boys, including her own brother, rest. The men and boys even get served before the women and girls do. Meena decides if she wants this to ever change then she needs to take action now.

This is a day in the life story celebrating family traditions while gently challenging inherent unfairness. The illustrations by award winning picture book maker Yasmeen Ismail are warm and lively evoking the chaotic party atmosphere of Meena’s Saturdays perfectly. They are full of mouth-watering detail together with captions and speech bubbles.

A glossary would have been a great addition making the few words of Gujarati clear to all readers and describing the wonderful food depicted in the text and illustrations.