"The sweet, naif character of the art
and the festive tone of the text are bound to please."--Booklist
"The illustrations for this delightful account of Carnaval in Peru are
decorative fabric collages that capture the vitality of the occasion.
An illustrated appendix shows how the collages, called arpilleras, are
made."--The New York Times
"Bright, cheerful, and full of life...an unusually authentic and
attractive contribution."--Kirkus Reviews
"Appeali...a useful introduction to the culture."--School Library
Journal
Growing up, I saw South America on a huge world map that the previous
owners of the house we lived in had left covering one wall. I read books
that gave me inviting tastes of what that southern continent might be
like. Its high mountains, rain forests, and rich variety of cultures
were just some of what drew me. It seemed I could find out much less
than I wanted from here in North America, and I decided to try to see it
up close. In the nineteen seventies I visited there for the first time
and spent almost a year, one of the most intriguing years in my life.
At one point, I was traveling over the Andes in the back of a truck,
bouncing along over dirt roads with potholes big enough to swallow up
any cars that dared venture there. As we rounded bends and passed by
boulders, children would leap out and throw water balloons or shower us
with icy water from buckets--a tradition at Carnaval time. Then,
crossing the wide-open altiplano, high plains, would drift sounds of
small bands of musicians, sometimes playing in the middle of fields.
They were getting ready to march into towns or villages and get everyone
swaying, singing and dancing to the music that went on for three days
and nights. Dancing or playing music for three days and nights is
certainly no easy feat. But people showed amazing strength and
enthusiasm, having worked hard physically during much of the rest of the
year.
I wanted to write a story about life in the high Andes Mountains, and
about Carnaval. The illustrations were done by a group of wonderful
artisans who worked together to create the arpilleras, cloth artworks,
that were photographed for the book. The people in the cooperative, and
others who helped with the project, were incredible to work with. Their
generosity and warmth were extended to many, as the cooperative, using
some of the proceeds from sales of their arpilleras, ran a kitchen that
fed up to three hundred people a day. Despite the many hardships of the
artisans' lives, their artwork is infused with cheer and optimism that I
hope you might experience as well.
