Be true to your craft. A valuable lesson is learned in this middle grade book provided by #NetGalley and #AnnickPress. Tehzeeb is transformed when he first attempts mehndi. While he becomes popular with most friends and family, not everyone is impressed. Tehzeeb must find the courage to follow his passion. There are many stunning elements to this chapter book: colorful illustrations, celebrations of the arts, breaking gender expectations. The most profound is perseverance and courage. This is an important and necessary read to understand family, expectations, and following your passion.

This is a wonderful story of a curious, creative and a sensitive young boy Tehzeeb, growing up in an Indo-Tanzanian culture, who loves to draw designs in his sketchbook. Tehzeeb is introduced to the art of mehndi when at his favorite uncle Ayaz’s house, during his cousin Rahima’s wedding.
Intrigued by the mehndi he practices the art, learns from his mistakes, and gets better at it day by day. Before long he shares his beautiful art with his family and friends and continues doing it, despite the unpleasant comments by some kids. As he stays committed to his art, he dreams of becoming the best mehndi artist one day.
However, when his uncle Ayaz declares that mehndi is for girls and that boys do not do mehndi, his uncle’s words hit him hard. Heartbroken, Tehzeeb is overwhelmed with self-doubt and denial when pursuing his favorite art. Until, one day circumstances compel Tehzeeb to put his passion to test, when he saves the day during his cousin’s wedding.
I really enjoyed reading this book and loved how the main character Tehzeeb, is motivated to pursue his passion by working towards it. The author Zain Bandali has adeptly portrayed Tehzeeb, as a thoughtful young boy who derives immense happiness by sharing his art with others.
The book teaches its readers to learn new things and that making mistakes is a part of a learning process. It is noteworthy to see how Tehzeeb looks for inspiration, & ideas around him like the patterns on a bridal dress and uses his creativity to transform mistakes into meaningful art. The book also highlights the role of adults, and the deep impact they can create on young minds. Most importantly, the book urges its readers to see beyond the stereotypical gender roles and practice openness to new ideas and thoughts.

This was a really great story about a young boy who takes an interest and learns how to do Mehndi. I think stories like this are important, not only to learn about different cultures and their practices, but also to encourage and promote both boys and girls doing activities that are considered gendered. I really enjoyed this story, the illustrations were great. I wish the Mehndi trivia was added already as I would love to learn more about it! This story could be used in multiple settings, the home, school and more and could promote a lot of insightful discussions. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story and cannot wait to see the final draft.
I like the challenges Tehzeeb faces and his mantra of practice makes progress.
The glossary and facts section will probably take the book from a want to a must have for my library, as while the vocabulary may be familiar to some I know a good percentage will have never heard some of the words in this book. It is a great glimpse in to an artform and culture that may not be familiar to all.

'Mehndi Boy' tells the story of Tehzeeb, a little boy who falls in love with the art of mehndi (henna) and dreams of becoming a mehndi artist one day, doing mehndi on all of the beautiful brides. But he is crushed when his uncle tells him that boys aren't supposed to do mehndi and that it is wrong. Tehzeeb proves him wrong by doing beautiful mehndi on his cousin for her wedding and his uncle has a change of heart.

This is a lovely story with messages that are important for all children to hear- that regardless of your gender, and regardless of what those around you think is right or wrong for your gender, you should be able to do what you love free of judgement or hate. It is a gentle introduction to a harsher truth of society, which is that we are all held to strict expectations based on gender and that we may be condemned or criticized for the things that we do. The story handles the topic with grace and resolves the issue in exactly the right way, modeling for children how they should face these types of issues. It is also presents lovely POC representation that is so important for all children to see in literature. I would recommend this book and would gladly buy it for a child.

This was a really cute story. Tez was the cutest and I love how supportive everyone was and how the story covered encountering mean peers while doing something for one's culture.
I'm not sure if it was just my copy, but some of the cuts were really weird and at times the sentences didn't make sense.
The images were beautiful. I can't wait to see a finished copy.

This is such a sweet story of a boy who love mehndi which the art of drawing in henna on the hands and feet, usually used at weddings and special occasions.

Tehzeeb loves how mehndi looks, and decides he is going to give it a try. He practices and practices, often on friends and neighbors, until he gets rather good at it. People praise him about his drawings, and he tries all the harder.

And then his uncle, whom he looks up to, says that mehndi drawing is just for women. That *real* men and boys didn’t do it. Tehzeeb is devastated. He loves his drawings. He has gotten so much better. To be told that this is not something for boys to do, hurts his feelings to the point he doesn’t want to do it anymore.

I love how Tahzeeb takes the praise, and also takes the condemnation to be inside him, and figure it out on his own. That his uncle is misguided, and that men and boys can do the mehndi as well.

It is hard to think like that. We always want our elders to love and paise us, and Tahzeeb even gets the courage to talk to his uncle about what he said.

Well worth having in any school library to introduce western kids to the concepts of mehndi, as well as gender stereotypes.

Thanks to Netrgalley for making this book available for an honest review. Book should be published October 24, 2023.

The title and cover of this junior chapter novel immediately drew my attention, and I’m so glad I was able to receive a copy! This is such a sweet story of Tehzeeb finding a new art form that brings him joy and allows him to bring joy to others with mehndi, and is also a story of challenging expected gender roles. Most everyone thinks Tez’s art is beautiful and want to have it as well, but his favorite uncle’s initial response is to say that mehndi isn’t for boys, which causes a lot of internal strife because how could something that feels so good not be allowed? Seeing Tez save the day with his mehndi, and also how his skill grows over the course of months is so wonderful. I really enjoyed this story and the art is such a perfect compliment!