Awe-samosas! - Marzieh Abbas - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Marzieh Abbas
ILLUSTRATOR: Bhagya Madanasinghe
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: March 26, 2024
RATING: 4 stars

In a Nutshell: A sweet little picture book about a girl who, inspired by her grandma, decides to make samosas for her friends. Cute story, great characters, lovely illustrations, loads of yummy food! Recommended!


Plot Preview:
Noor’s friends are coming over to her house for the very first time. As Noor ponders over what to serve them, she recollects her grandmother’s delicious samosas. Her father tries to get her to order pizzas instead, but the heart wants what the heart wants. So Noor and her dad set about making samosas. But some key ingredients are not in stock at home and time is running out. Motivated by her father and her pet parrot Mithoo, Noor decides to experiment with Dadijaan’s recipe. She is sure that her Awe-Samosas will turn out awesome!! But will they?


I recently read ‘My Teacher Has Tattoos’, and loved the illustrations so much that I searched for other picture books by the same illustrator. My quest led me to this book, and when I saw the word ‘samosa’ in the title, I knew that it was meant for me. (The samosa is my favourite fried snack, though I don’t consume it often for health reasons.)

The cover and the summary give a hint of how cute the contents of this little book are. Noor is a sweet child who has a loving relationship with her father and her grandmother. I love how seriously she takes the whole idea of serving samosas to her friends. For her sake, I was also glad to see that her friends were open-minded about eating something they weren’t familiar with.

Quite a few pluses in this book:

🥟 A book celebrating the yumminess of our local cuisine – Gimme more!

🥟 Dadijaan’s samosas – made my mouth water! There’s a recipe for this tasty snack at the end of the book.

🥟 The closeness between Noor and her father, and even between Noor and her grandma who is in Pakistan. The interaction between the trio was heartwarming.

🥟 Noor and her enthusiastic attempt at recreating the samosa. I am not too sure about a couple of the combinations she tried (more due to personal taste; those flavours aren’t for me), but I do like the idea of little chefs experimenting in the kitchen. *chef’s kiss to the little chef!*

🥟 Noor’s disappointment at things not going to plan turning into her willingness to learn from the mistakes – a good approach for kids to learn from.

🥟 Abu handles the deep frying (Phew!) though Noor does everything else. It shows kids that they should ask for help from an adult when needed.

🥟 Mithoo, Noor’s pet parrot. Love his contributions to the samosa prep and his encouragement towards Noor.

🥟 The repeated adage of “Sab theek hai. Sab theek hoga!” – “All is fine. All will be fine!” A lovely thought to remember in times of trouble. (Right up there with “Aal izz well” from 3 Idiots!)

🥟 A helpful glossary of all Urdu terms at the end of the book.

🥟 The illustrations were really sweet, with the earthen tones, the facial expressions, and the background artwork coming together in a mostly synchronous harmony. Noor’s turban didn’t appear too natural in its fit, but the rest was very cute. You can actually feel Noor’s energy through the graphics.


Definitely recommended to little samosa lovers who aren’t afraid to try new flavours and love their grandma’s cooking. It might also work as a good classroom option for an inclusive discussion on different foods across the world. This will be a great book for ages 4-8.

My thanks to Clarion Books for allowing access to the DRC of “Awe-samosas!” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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