In Amelia Lau Carling’s Sawdust Carpets, a Chinese-Latino family drives to visit their (also Chinese) relatives in Antigua, Guatemala, where a little cousin will be baptized during Holy Week, and where Quan Yin and the Virgin share space on the family altar, “like friends.” Carling illustrates her own texts, bringing this Chinese family’s life as Guatemalans vividly to the reader in softer pastels than we usually see in stories set in tropical countries. The reference in the title is to a tradition shared by cultures around the world: making art that is destroyed in the process of an annual celebration. Carling’s young characters learn a deep lesson in observing their carpets trampled upon. And Chinese tamales? That’s how this multicultural family refers to the rice dumplings, wrapped in bamboo or lotus leaves, that they made back in China. The comparison is an imaginative stretch, unless you grew up, as Carling did, “learning about Chinese, Mayan and Spanish cultures.”

PaperTigers is all about such imaginative stretches. The blog stretches the website’s field of interest to include all multicultural children’s books in English. Our topics will evolve as we explore. For today, Chinese tamales are our motif for reflection.

Posted by: Charlotte | This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Picture Books, Reading the World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: Amelia Lau Carling, Authors, Children's Books, Chinese culture, festivals and celebrations, Guatemalan culture, Sawdust Carpets