Pegi Deitz Shea

American co-authors Pegi Deitz Shea and Cynthia Weill join forces with Vietnamese illustrator Ngọc Trang Tô and embroidery artist Phạm Viết Đinh in this murine counting book that celebrates Tet, as Lunar New Year is known in Vietnam. From one to ten, the mice prepare for and celebrate this holiday, from shopping and cleaning to eating treats and watching fireworks. The book closes with a detailed afterword explaining each custom depicted in the main narrative...

Only the second picture-book I have encountered about Tet, following upon Kim-Lan Tran's Têt: The New Year, Ten Mice for Tet is a sweet little counting book, one that could serve as an introduction to this holiday for very young children. The main text is quite simple, and is paired with colorful and unique artwork, which was first drawn by Ngọc Trang Tô and then embroidered by Phạm Viết Đinh using cotton thread and cloth. Recommended to picture-book readers seeking stories for Tet, or set in a Vietnamese cultural context. Also recommended to readers interested in embroidered and other sewn styles of artwork.

Note: Embroidery and other sewn artwork is not common in the picture-book form, although fans of the style might want to check out Sieglinde Schoen Smith's quilted illustrations, in Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale, as well as Belinda Downes' embroidered illustrations, in titles such as A Stitch in Rhyme: A Nursery Rhyme Sampler and Joan Aiken's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Also of note are the yarn-paintings of indigenous Huichol artists, to be found in Hallie N. Love and Bonnie Larson's Watákame's Journey: The Story of the Great Flood and the New World.… (más)

The Whispering Cloth follows Mai and her grandma in a refugee camp in Thailand. During their time in the camp, Mai's grandma teaches her to sew to help decorate the pa'ndau, a traditional Hmong item similar to a story quilt. During this time Mai realizes and tells her own story, from the good times as well as the bad times when she lost her parents. Using the pa'ndau Mai is able to not only realize her own story but honestly think about what she has been through in life. This book would be wonderful for children who have survived trauma and could be read along with an activity that allows kids to draw out their own life stories. Just like Mai's, their pa'ndau would be priceless.… (más)