Books with author Amelia Lau Carling

From the clip, clop of the milkman s mule in the early morning to the clacking of her father s abacus at night, a young girl brings us into her home, which is also her parents store. Located in Guatemala City, the store is filled with the colorful textures of cloth, threads, buttons, and things from her parents homeland in China. As people come and go throughout the day, the girl hears several languages Spanish, Chinese, and Mayan. The Mayans buy thread for weaving in colors such as parrot green and mango yellow. The girl s parents talk about their hometown in China, from which they emigrated, fleeing a war, years ago. The girl and her brothers and sisters make up games to play on the rooftop terrace, on the sidewalk, and in the store. After supper the girl dances to celebrate her day. Lyrical writing and delightful artwork will captivate both children and adults in this story drawn from the author/illustrator s childhood memories."

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.

The Lau family, well-known from Amelia Lau Carling’s award winning picture-book Mama and Papa have a Store/La Tienda de Mamá y Papá, have been invited to spend Easter with their cousins in Antigua, Guatemala. Although they are Chinese and Buddhist, Mamá loves the pageantry of Easter.Antigua, the former colonial capital of Guatemala, is renowned for its Easter processions. Not only are the statues outstanding examples of Spanish colonial art, they are carried by hundreds of penitents, wreathed in incense. One of the most striking and original features of these processions is the creation of spectacular, ephemeral, sawdust carpets which the processions walk over and destroy. The cobble stone street of the city are lined with these carpets which people spend days creating, only to see them disappear. The heroine of the story helps to make a one of these carpets.Guatemalan and Chinese religious observances, the Goddess Kuan Yin and the Virgen de Guadalupe, Dragon Boat Races and Easter processions, piñatas and baptisms and Chinese tamales all weave in and out of this story that celebrates beauty, religious celebration, and tolerance.

In this delightful story two young children, Ray and Amelia, discover an old New Mexican tradition -- 'los abuelos' -- for the first time. Long ago, in the cold midwinter of Northern New Mexico, village men would go up into the mountains, disguise themselves as scary old men and then go down to the village to see who had been good and who had been bad. The villagers would gather around huge bonfires, or luminarias, where the abuelos -- wearing masks and covered with soot -- would tease the children and then have them sing or dance around the fire. Afterwards everyone would enjoy a party with traditional treats such as bizcochitos (anise cookies) and empanadas (turnovers with sweet fillings). This midwinter masquerade, which contains elements of Spanish and indigenous Pueblo culture, as well as sharing features common to solstice celebrations in other parts of the world, died out in New Mexico for a time, but has been revived in recent years.

In this delightful story two young children, Ray and Amelia, discover an old New Mexican tradition -- 'los abuelos' -- for the first time. Long ago, in the cold midwinter of Northern New Mexico, village men would go up into the mountains, disguise themselves as scary old men and then go down to the village to see who had been good and who had been bad. The villagers would gather around huge bonfires, or luminarias, where the abuelos -- wearing masks and covered with soot -- would tease the children and then have them sing or dance around the fire. Afterwards everyone would enjoy a party with traditional treats such as bizcochitos (anise cookies) and empanadas (turnovers with sweet fillings). This midwinter masquerade, which contains elements of Spanish and indigenous Pueblo culture, as well as sharing features common to solstice celebrations in other parts of the world, died out in New Mexico for a time, but has been revived in recent years.