SILK UMBRELLAS
by Carolyn Marsden
Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763633763
ISBN-13: 9780763633769
Ages 7-12
144 pages

Noi's grandmother is an artist who paints beautiful designs on silk umbrellas and sells them at the market near their rural Thai home. Eleven-year-old Noi also longs to be an artist, and when her grandmother lets Noi add small designs to the umbrella, she seems to have natural talent: "The flit of the butterflies moved into her, then out into the brush, so the paint seemed to lay itself down."

When Noi's family falls on hard times, though, and Noi's older sister Ting is sent to work making radios at the factory, Noi fears that she, too, will be sent to work when she finishes school in just a few months. When Noi sees the stifling environment of the factory, she grows even more desperate to avoid this fate and asks her grandmother to help her learn how to paint. In secret, Noi creates dozens of decorated umbrellas, inspired by the flora, fauna and colors of the landscape. When her grandmother grows ill, will Noi be able to paint umbrellas beautiful enough to help support her family?

Set against the background of preparations for the harvest festival of Loy Krathong, SILK UMBRELLAS is not only the story of the birth of an artist, but also a loving portrayal of Thai nature and culture. Careful readers will notice subtle commentaries on the changing economic conditions in Thailand. Electronics factories replace traditional crafts; Noi's father weaves fishing baskets, not for fishermen but for Western tourists.

SILK UMBRELLAS is a slim novel that can nevertheless be read on several levels. Younger readers will enjoy witnessing Noi's artistic development and learning about Thai customs, and older readers will also grasp the larger cultural commentary in Carolyn Marsden's sensitively written novel.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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