Gali, a young girl excit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in her old­er cousin’s upcom­ing wed­ding, has asked her Sav­ta (grand­moth­er) to design and sew a flower girl dress that will stand out for its beau­ty. When she learns that, even in Israel, Yemenite women take great care to pre­serve the spe­cial hen­na cer­e­mo­ny held in the week before the wed­ding, she is momen­tar­i­ly frus­trat­ed. Her dress should be ready first! Her grandmother’s patient ded­i­ca­tion helps Gali to under­stand why both ven­er­a­ble and mod­ern cus­toms form the fab­ric of their community’s life.

Young read­ers will iden­ti­fy with Gali’s need to feel impor­tant to her Sav­ta, and the old­er woman accepts her granddaughter’s emo­tions with­out crit­i­cism. They go togeth­er to the local mar­ket to buy sil­ver beads from a skill­ful arti­san; Gali lat­er notices the stun­ning head­dress that Sav­ta has cre­at­ed for the bride. Grad­u­al­ly, the sin­gu­lar­i­ty of the event, where the bride is dressed with elab­o­rate beau­ty, dawns on Gali, who views it through the lens of a fairy tale. ​“Wow, you look like some­one from a fan­ta­sy king­dom,” she tells her cousin with­out a trace of resentment.

Yinon Ptahia’s illus­tra­tions con­vey warmth and excite­ment. Music, danc­ing, and unique dec­o­ra­tions pre­cede the prepa­ra­tion of a hen­na paste, used to draw intri­cate designs on the bride’s hand as a visu­al sym­bol of good luck. Gali appears intent as she pours tea essence into a bowl of hen­na paste. She is in the cen­ter of the image, with her grandmother’s hand help­ing to form the mix­ture. Scenes in Savta’s work­shop reflect the hard work and cre­ativ­i­ty that cul­mi­nate in this essen­tial obser­vance. When Gali sees the ​“glim­mer­ing gold dress with Yemenite embroi­dery” that Sav­ta has sewn for her, she rec­og­nizes the depth of her grandmother’s love, as well as the impor­tance of her Yemenite inher­i­tance. Strong women are links in the chain of cul­tur­al continuity.

The Hen­na Helper is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed and an includ­ed author’s note pro­vides more infor­ma­tion about the Yemenite hen­na ceremony.