Mama and Papa Have a Store by Amelia Carling, Amelia Lau, Amelia Lau

From the Publisher

From the clip, clop of the milkman’s mule in early morning to the clic, clac of her father’s abacus at night, a young girl tells about a day in her family’s store and home in Guatemala City. Every day customers of many heritages—speaking Spanish, Chinese, and Mayan—come to buy cloth, buttons, and thread in colors like parrot green and mango yellow, and dozens of other items. While the girl’s parents and their friends talk about their hometown in China from where they emigrated many years ago, she and her siblings play games on the rooftop terrace, float paper boats, and make shadow puppets under the glow of flashlights. When the store closes, the girl dances to celebrate her day. Amelia Lau Carling’s thoroughly American children loved her childhood stories about Guatemala so much that she wrote them down for others.

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on her memories of growing up in Guatemala as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, debut author/artist Carling sunnily evokes a companionable mingling of cultures. Her parents, whose Chinese names mean Lady Who Lives in the Moon and Fragrant Pond, are do a Graciela and don Rodolfo to the customers who frequent their general store. Going past the paper lanterns and firecrackers on display, a weaver pores over "rows and rows of colored strands [of thread] arranged like schools of fish in glassy water," and chooses "volcano purple, maize yellow, hot pepper red." Lunch in their home behind the store is cooked in a wok and served with tortillas. Tropical foliage and a pila (pool) for the goldfish adorn the spacious patio; on la terraza, the kids play with a miniature landscape of a Chinese mountain with little pagodas and moon bridges. Carling's festively patterned, serene watercolors show the narrator happily being a kid: dangling a string for the cat, buying candy, floating paper boats in the gutter. In a scene that marvelously captures the book's fusion of familiar and exotic elements, the kids sled on pieces of cardboard down a waxed tin roof, a mountain in the distance and colorful laundry and flowers in the foreground. Kids may enjoy trying to separate out the threads of Mayan, Spanish and Chinese cultures, but all come together seamlessly in this snippet of an idyllic childhood. Ages 4-8. (June)

Children's Literature

Like the delicious lunch that Mama serves to her Chinese family and guests, consisting of stir-fried fish and vegetables with hot chilies and corn tortillas, this colorful multicultural picture book shows us how the author's parents and older siblings ran a store in post-World War II Guatemala City that sold just about anything you could want. Bright child-like watercolors compliment nicely a lively first person text that incorporates Spanish words and names in a very natural way. The family's daily activities, with their blend of Chinese, Spanish and Mayan customs and influences, portray a truly multicultural way of life in a very appealing way. An author's note is included.

School Library Journal

In Guatemala City, a Chinese immigrant family owns a specialty store where they sell fabric and thread, along with Chinese imports. The events of a typical busy day are recounted through the eyes of the family's youngest daughter. Through the details of daily life, readers see how cultures coexist and enrich one another in this delightful autobiographical story. (PreS-Gr 4) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Carling's first solo outing recounts a day in the life of her family's general store in the heart of Guatemala City. Her family has fled a war in China and opened the store, stocking Chinese goods that are a hit with the local Guatemalan, Mayan, and Chinese populations. It is in the details that Carling finds her memory sparked, as she recalls lottery ticket and candy sellers; lunchtime, when her brothers and sisters would come home from school and sled down their waxed tin roof; the afternoon storms; laundry flapping on the roof; the clic-clac of her father's abacus as he tallied the day's sales. Carling's watercolors are also about those details: the shop brimming with goods, the Chinese touches throughout her home, her mother applying lipstick before returning to the store after lunch. Through these scenes run members of the expatriate Chinese community, filtering in and out of the store to chat and have tea or a plate of fish and hot peppers. The tone of the book is subdued, but this is a remarkable and affectionate story of one family's resilience, of grace under fire, of how a life can flourish under trying circumstances, and how ordinary scenes can be bracketed and transformed by a child's "The day begins like this" and "This is how the day ends." (Picture book. 4-8)

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