Hello friends! Welcome to Storytime with The Met. My name is Christina and I'm so excited to see you
today. We're gathering every Thursday at noon for a story and an activity so find a cozy spot
and let's get started! We'll begin today with our Storytime song, it goes to the tune of this old
man, so can we start on the count of three? one two three! Welcome friends get ready get set for
Storytime at The Met, where we love to read and sing and look at works of art and picture books,
we'll use our eyes to look and see, we'll use our ears to hear stories, now we'll take a seat
and give a shhh. Let's begin with our first book! Thank you so much for singing along.
So our book for today is called Nadia's Hands and it's written by Karen English and illustrated
by Jonathan Weiner. I'll read the words but i'll need your help looking at the pictures.
for Auntie Laila's wedding the aunts decided it was Nadia's turn to be a flower girl.
One cousin who'd been a flower girl for the last wedding said,
I forgot and sprinkled rose petals down just one side of the aisle, don't make that mistake.
Another cousin who had been a flower girl and for Auntie Saleha's wedding told her,
oh I ate too many kebabs the night before and got sick and had to run to the bathroom right in the
middle of walking down the aisle. Take my advice, stay away from kebabs. Be careful of frozen feet,
another cousin added. She had also been a flower girl once. I got stage fright
just as i was about to walk down the aisle. My feet froze. So many things to remember.
You know what, Nadia? Auntie Laila said. She lowered her voice and put her lips close to
Nadia's ear. I have a feeling you're going to be a very good flower girl. Nadia smiled, relieved.
I have a special surprise, Auntie Laila added. Nadia waited. Auntie Amina's coming Saturday to
put the mehndi on your hands. Auntie Laila's eyes danced and sparkled. Just you wait. Nadia's smile
made her face feel stiff. She didn't want the mehndi, it would make her hands orange,
it wouldn't wash off and she didn't want to go to school like that on Monday. She was worried.
See Nadia here, what do you think she's thinking?
But on Saturday Nadia forgot her worry and woke up filled with anticipation. The aunties came
one by one to help with the wedding preparations. One brought the silky peach collared shalwar
and kameez Nadia would wear for her duties as a flower girl. Another brought tiny gold earrings.
Another came to curl Nadia's hair. Finally in came Auntie Amina with her bag of mehndi. Nadia you
go play while Auntie gets everything ready, Mommy told her. Auntie took from her bag the mixing bowl
the spatula and the thin wooden stick that looked like a sculptor's tool. She looked over at Nadia.
I'll call you when it's ready, Nadia, it has to sit a while. At last Auntie called Nadia to the
kitchen. Sit she said. Nadia sat. Hold out your hands. Nadia held out her hands and Auntie Amina
smeared the mehndi all over Nadia's palms. It was cold and pasty and had a funny smell.
Hmm
Auntie said mysteriously. With her wooden sticks she began to draw the intricate designs that all
the aunties loved. While she did this delicate work she sang softly to herself a song in Urdu,
one that Nadia had heard many times before. Are there any songs you've heard many times before?
Nadia did not budge, she almost did not breathe. When Auntie was done Mommy and the other aunts
oohed and ahed at the swirls and the flowers and the stars on Nadia's hands. Then
Auntie Amina drew a small gold ring out of her pocket and smiled a sly smile. Look what I brought
for you when your hands are ready. Thank you, Nadia said, then quickly turned to Mommy. How
long do i have to sit here? For a while. What's a while? Be patient Nadia, remember sabr, patience.
Nadia watched Mommy and the aunts walk out of the room to gaze at the wedding dress
again. Nadia sat and sat. She sat watching the door wishing someone would come back through it.
She sat watching the window wishing there was something interesting to see.
Finally she sat watching the big kitchen clock over the stove, tick tick tick,
can we do the sounds of the kitchen clock together? tick tick tick.
Uncle Omar came by with a flower delivery. He stopped in the kitchen where Nadia sat palms up,
very still. Ah, mehndi, he said and nodded approvingly. Uncle Abdul Rahim came next. He
stopped by the kitchen to peek in the simmering pots on the stove, part of the wedding feast.
Aha Nadia, he said, turning around, you were so quiet and still, I didn't know you were there.
I'm showing everyone I have sabr, she said. That made Uncle laugh. He went over to her and
gazed down at her up raised palms. Oh you got your hands done for the wedding, that's nice,
he said. Yes, uncle, but really she didn't feel it was so nice/
Here we have a look at Nadia's hands. What do you see?
After a while, a long while, Auntie Amina came and rinsed off the mehndi. Nadia looked down.
She had amber hands with deep orange flowers and swirls and stars. Her hands did not look
like her hands, they looked as if they belonged to someone else. She didn't want these hands that
didn't look like her hands. Auntie slipped the ring on her finger and Nadia rubbed its
smooth shiny surface with her thumb. What would it feel like to put that ring on, what do you think?
Now it was time for the wedding. Nadia stood at the beginning of the long red carpeted aisle.
Everyone in the banquet hall looked at her. She moved one foot.
It wasn't frozen and except for the flutter of butterflies her stomach felt fine. She scooped
up a handful of petals from her basket, remembering to toss them first on one side,
then on the other. She saw a sea of eyes following her. Her feet stayed with the beat in her head.
It wasn't so hard. She almost glided down the aisle as she let go of her showers of petals.
But then, the bright amber stone in her ring caught the glittering light and Nadia noticed her
hands for the first time it seemed. The swirls and tiny flowers and stars, the bright amber color,
the deep orange fingertips. Her heart began to pound at the sight of those hands that she'd
have to take to school on Monday, those hands that looked as if they belonged to someone else.
She lost the rhythm then and brought her foot down so fast that she nearly stumbled.
She felt her face grow hot and imagined it red as a pomegranate.
She looked over at the cousins. One was giving her a flat heavy lidded look,
a tiny smile was starting on another one's lips as if she were getting ready to laugh.
Behind her hand the third leaned over and said something to the other two.
Then all three turned back to watch Nadia, their eyes three pairs of scrutinizing slits with smirks
hidden behind their solemn expressions. What do you think is gonna happen next?
Nadia's breath came fast. She plucked a few petals and cast them limply then her eyes met grandma's.
Grandma's eyes were filled with tears but her mouth
had a happy smile she looked at mommy and daddy next. Their smiles were full of tenderness and the
aunts and the uncle smiles were full of affection. Her feet found the rhythm and she went on
one foot in front of the other forgetting her hands as she dipped into the basket and sprinkled
the flower petals, first on one side then on the other, all the way to the end of the aisle.
After the ceremony one by one the aunts came over to admire Nadia's hands and have her twirl around
to show off her curls. The uncles came over to lift her chin and smiled down at her. Grandma came
over and lifted one hand then the other. You know what Nadia? she whispered. When I look at your
hands it's as if i'm looking at my past and future at the same time. Did you know that? No grandma,
Nadia said. What she knew was that her hands made grandma happy, and mommy and daddy, and the aunts
and the uncles, so they made her happy too. Look at Nadia now, how do you think she's feeling?
She thought about Monday at school. Maybe she could show her hands during sharing time.
Linda Murakami came with her grandmother's kimono once and Rasheed shared the kente cloth his mother
brought back from her trip to Africa. She would share her hands from Pakistan. Nadia looked
down at her hands. She turned them this way and that. Her hands didn't look as if they belonged
to someone else, she decided, they looked as if they belonged to her. Here's Nadia's hands again.
The end! Thank you so much for reading along with me. I hope you enjoyed that story.
Reading that story and hearing about the ways that Nadia got ready for her big family event
had me thinking about an object in the museum's collection. It's a mirror handle,
it's actually a sculpture of a standing woman. Looking at this sculpture, what do you notice?
What do you see that the woman is wearing? How do you think she might be feeling? If you could
imagine the mirror that this handle was attached to, what do you think it could have looked like?
if you were to look inside the mirror what would you see?
I have an activity we can try while we think about that. So, I have a drawing activity and
you can use whatever materials you have. You'll just want a sheet of paper, you can grab some
colored pencils or a marker, whatever you have is fine. I prepared for this activity by drawing an
outline of what i thought a mirror could look like that would go along with a mirror handle.
Inside what you can draw is a picture of yourself thinking about your own family traditions,
your own cultural traditions, or how you get ready for a big event. You can draw the outfit you would
wear, the accessories you would wear, or whatever you'd be thinking or feeling at that time.
What do you think? What would you put inside?
You can even stand in front of the mirror, and try on the outfit, and see what you see.
Thank you so much for joining me for Storytime today. We hope to see you again soon. Goodbye!