Shea, P. D. (1996). The Whispering Cloth. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.
Brief Annotation: Mai lives in a Thai refugee camp with her grandmother. She spends hours each day watching the women in the camp sew pa’ndau, the Hmong story cloth. Through her own sewing of pa’ndau, Mai processes the death of her parents, her life in the cap and her dream of reuniting with family.
Genre: Picturebook, Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Grade Level: 2-4
Readers who will like this: students who have worked with textiles before, children who have stories to tell, readers who have learned something from their grandmothers.
Response/Rating (1-4): *** This story shares a young girl’s journey to self-expression, which I believe will inspire young students to think about their own stories and dreams and how they can communicate them. This book provides important information on the background of the Hmong population living in the Twin Cities that should be shared with students, Hmong and non-Hmong alike. The book also lends itself to creative student responses, such as the creation of story cloths or the writing of memoirs.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: Have you ever had the chance to share a story about yourself through art?
This is a great opening question - it will get kids to think, and is not so specific to the story cloth. It will certainly also get at building schema for the story you're about to read.
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