In Kusum Mepani’s picture book Meena’s Saturday (Kokila/Penguin, 4–8 years), the young title character enjoys warm, boisterous weekly gatherings with her family and community (depicted in Yasmeen Ismail’s lively illustrations), even as she questions her role within them. For more books about togetherness, see our list “Gather together” in this issue of Notes.

1. Kusum and Yasmeen, what were your childhood family (or community) gatherings like, and how did that inform this book?

Kusum Mepani: I have very fond memories of them. Every Saturday, there was a feeling of energy in my house. My father was the eldest in our family, so we hosted everyone. Our house was full of food, music, talking, and lots and lots of family, neighbors, and people my parents knew from India and Kenya. Of course, all the cooking and cleaning was the job of the women in the family, so even at a young age, my days were busy.

Yasmeen Ismail: In Ireland in the 1980s, my dad had a social circle comprised of mainly Indians who had traveled to study just like he had. They came up together and graduated and settled in Dublin. They married and integrated and had kids, and it was these kids that I grew up with. We would go and hang out in big gangs at each other’s homes and eat delicious food. My dad’s best friend, Negi, was an incredible cook. He had a bakery, then a hotel and a restaurant. I loved his food. He was a wonderful man. When I first read Meena’s Saturday, I was transported back to that time, and when I read about Meena and her sisters I thought about Negi and his six daughters. I based the characters I drew on those girls I knew.

Photo: Jake Green.

2. Kusum, how did you strike a balance between portraying the fun of a gathering and acknowledging Meena’s gender role questions?

KM: I loved those Saturdays with my family, and the sense of community and belonging. But at the same time, I was growing up in a very traditional Indian family in England. So during the day at school I was influenced by English culture, and at home I was very much in Indian culture. I recognized very early on that girls were treated differently than boys at home, while it wasn’t the same way at school. I had women teachers and a librarian who encouraged me to read and think independently. So I saw the inequalities in my own family dynamics, but at the same time, I wouldn’t trade the food or spending time with my cousins for anything!

3. Yasmeen, what was your process of deciding the compositions of the pages?

YI: When I work out the flow of a book, I read through and see what needs pacing. I can immediately see which parts of the story need space to land, the big double-page spreads. With the food, the kids dancing, and the full living room, I wanted to do big spreads to illustrate just how full and chaotic a big gathering can be. I wanted to give room to these parts. For scenes that needed to move the story along, I used vignettes. I liked using the single page for the morning chai with the sunrise outside. It felt contained and cozy, a quiet moment in a hectic book.

4. Kusum and Yasmeen, what do you hope readers will learn from Meena’s example?

KM: Small steps make a difference, and eventually they add up to real change.

YI: I hope readers can learn to stand up for their beliefs, that change will always happen, that you can’t stand in the way of progress, and that hard work is not a bad thing.

5. Kusum and Yasmeen, what’s your favorite dish for a crowd?

KM: Samosas have always been my favorite!

YI: In addition to being half Indian–South African, I am also half Chinese. So I like to serve up fish-fragrant aubergines, steamed eggs, and pak choi with tofu and rice. All from Fuchsia Dunlop’s book Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking. It’s proper home cooking, just like I had at my granny’s house.

From the November 2024 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.