multicultural literature – Peaceful Reader

A Pair of Red Clogs

by Masako Matsuno
Purple House Press
(1960, 1988)

Beginning:

A pair of old cracked wooden clogs!
I found them last night in a storeroom of my house
when I was looking for a box to send a new pair of clogs
to my little granddaughter.

Matsuno descibes the new pair she is sending to her granddaughter, far away and then remembers back to when she received the red lacquered pair in the box.

One evening,
when I was as young as my granddaughter is now,
I went shopping with my mother.

And then she describes the store, the experience of picking this pair of clogs (she was only allowed to pick one pair) and how they sounded as she walked (kara koro, kara koro). It is a thrilling shopping trip and once she has them she joins in a traditional Japanese game and the red lacquered clogs are damaged. They no longer go kara koro, kara koro as she walks and she gets them dirty in order to force mother to buy new ones now.

The story is very well done showing an Asian child with a very normal situation that all children can relate to and predict the outcome. The illustrations are beautifully drawn by Kazue Mizumura, with Japanese textures, dress and custums demonstrated throughout. I wished I could have located pages online to show some scenes from inside the book. This makes a wonderful multicultural choice. I thought the book was brand new until I looked up the copyright for this post. It was new at my public library and definetely does not look dated.

5/5 peaceful stars

Highly recommended for elementary

Ruby Lu; Empress of Everything

by Lenore Look

(2006)

Peaceful Girl and I read this together and we love Ruby Lu. If you haven’t yet met Ruby Lu, think Ramona with an Asian-American background. Ruby Lu; Brave and True is the first in the series and I really hope there will be more (ahemm, Lenore Look, are you listening) because they are so much fun to read. In this adventure several important events occur. Ruby Lu’s cousin, Flying Duck emigrates from China and stays with Ruby Lu’s family. Everyone speaks Chinese now at home and Ruby Lu has to share her room. Because Ruby Lu spends time helping her cousin in school, Ruby Lu falls behind and the two have to spend part of the summer in (dreaded) summer school!! The two take an eye test together(Ruby Lu hopes to fail so she can get glasses) and because Flying Duck is deaf, Ruby Lu learns (and we do too) some sign language. Ruby Lu makes a list of things she wants to accomplish over the summer and crosses them off as she goes-as a fellow list maker I loved her little notes.

This is one of those easy-to-read chapter books meant to bridge the gap between easy readers and more difficult chapter books. The Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows fits nicely into this category as does Jeremy Bean. I think this is a fast growing market and I’m glad-we are having a great time reading them at home. Peaceful Girl is reading another one to me, Mimmy and Sophie; all around the town by

Miriam Cohen.

5/5 peaceful stars, highly recommended for elementary fiction

Liz B.’s review at A chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy’s

Mitali Perkins talks about Ruby Lu right here.

BlogCritics Review

2nd Picnic Basket holds multicultural treasure

Grandfather’s Story Cloth written by Linda Gerdner and Sarah Langford with illustrations by Stuart Longhridge is a very well-written tale of family bonds that hold us together no matter our cultural.

Grandfather lives with Chershong and his family in the United States. Chershong hurries home one day to share his 3rd grade art project with him only to find Grandfather out in the yard, gathering wood to build a fire not remembering the gas stove they use to cook. Chershong’s frustration grows and his mother shares Grandfather’s story cloth. Chershong is amazed to see the life his grandfather had in Laos all depicted in stitched pictures. He and Grandfather pour over the cloth as his grandfather tells stories from his past.

The story is very well-developed and easy for readers to understand that Grandfather is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and cannot remember where he is. Sometimes books like this tend to be so didactic they become textbook-like but this one is very a very enjoyable read. I can image classrooms creating story cloths of their own to connect with Grandfather. The illustrations, while dark, set a simple tone for the text and the end papers show traditional Hmong artwork. Highly Recommended.

A Picnic-Basket selection from Shen’s Books.