Mama and Papa Have a Store-Multicultural Picture Book

Title: Mama and Papa Have a Store
ISBN:0-8037-2044-0
Author and Illustrator: Amelia Lau Carling
Date of publication: 1998
Award won: Americas Award and Pura Belpre Honor Book Award
Age recommendation: ages 4-8
Group represented: A Chinese family, Guatemalan Citizens

This story takes place in Guatemala City, where a Chinese family owes a store that sells things such as buttons, ribbons, thread, cloth, lanterns and perfume. The parents of the young girl in the story had to flee Nine Rivers, in China, because of a terrible war more than 15 years ago. The book talks about the families typical day running a store in Guatemala City and what it is like to be Chinese in Guatemala. The children of the book play games on the rooftop terrace and around the city. The family tries to follow Chinese traditions, but also speaks Spanish and has Spanish names that the citizens know them by. The family closes for lunch like the people do in Guatemala, and eat food cooked in a Chinese wok that can be eaten in flour tortillas. The story is written in English, but incorporates Spanish vocab words and the names of the characters are Spanish names.


The pictures really add a lot to this book. The pages are filled with colorful images that remind me of Spanish culture and going to Mexico. On some two page layouts in the book one whole side will show a picture of what is happening in the paragraph on the opposite page so it is very easy to imagine what the author is telling you about in her writing. Some pages also contain Chinese characters on them as to tie both cultures together much like the family in the story has to do.







This would be a nice book to help students be introduced to some Spanish vocab words. It would also be interesting to use when learning about communities and that many different types of citizens make-up a community no matter where in the world you live.



The family in this story seemed to have adapted to the Guatemalan culture, but the family still hung on to some of their own traditions. Students could discuss how it might be hard for people of other cultures to move to places that are very different from where they originally came from to gain a better understanding of how immigrants sometimes have a hard time adjusting.