Jasmine's Parlour Day
Copyright © 2008 www.lynnjosephbooks.com
Summary: Jasmine is a young girl who lives near Maracas Beach in Trinidad. On market day, also called Parlour Day, Jasmine helps her mother set up their shop with fish and sugar cakes for sale. Jasmine also finds time to visit with her friends and see what others are selling to the town’s people who come to the beach for the day.
Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly
As the sun rises, it "rounds the corner of Jasmine's house and shines through her window like it means business." Her mother stands in the doorway, "balancing her big straw basket on her head like an angel with a heavy halo." Similarly spirited description fills Joseph's winsome tale of a day Jasmine spends with her mother at their "wooden parlour," the beachside stand where they sell fresh fish and sugar cakes. Use of island dialect lends authenticity: Jasmine remarks that "De sky blue for so. . . . Plenty people go want to come play at de beach today." As Jasmine and her friend visit the various other vendors (selling crab soup, coconut water, mangoes and polished conch shells), a stream of brightly colored cars brings surfers and swimmers to the beach. Dominated by electric pinks and greens, Grifalconi's energetic, large-scale illustrations make the book's tropical setting come very much alive. Once again, Joseph depicts an island ritual that shows the old and the new in delicate balance. Age’s 4-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
from School Library Journal
Preschool-Grade 2-Young Jasmine accompanies her mother to sell fish and sugar cakes at a "parlour," a market stand near the beach at Maracas Bay in Trinidad. Before the beachgoers arrive and the workday begins, the girl visits her friends at the other stands, and then returns to help her mother. Joseph's lighthearted story is written in a modified dialect and captures the sights and sounds of island life. The narrative is vivid and flowing, relying on humor rather than suspense to hold readers' attention. Jasmine, for instance, arranges the fish in size order, as is done in school, but with the smallest one in back, for "she never liked being a little fish in front." Grifalconi's watercolors are bold, bright, and sun dappled, but have a hurried, unfinished look. Nonetheless, this entertaining story will make a successful read-aloud.
Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Siena College Library, Loudonville, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 3-7. Like Joseph's Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems (1990), this is a celebratory picture of island life in Trinidad. Parlour Day is market day at the beach. Jasmine and her mother carry their fresh fish and sugar cakes to their wooden parlour stall and set up for the day. Then, with her best friend, Jasmine visits the other stalls to see who's there and what they're selling: shark 'n' bake at one stall; spicy mango chutney and poulari balls at another; huge conch shells here; guavas, soursops, and mangoes there. The language is lively, with occasional lilting dialogue. Not really a story, but a vital scene of one child and her community. Hazel Rochman
From Publishers Weekly
As the sun rises, it "rounds the corner of Jasmine's house and shines through her window like it means business." Her mother stands in the doorway, "balancing her big straw basket on her head like an angel with a heavy halo." Similarly spirited description fills Joseph's winsome tale of a day Jasmine spends with her mother at their "wooden parlour," the beachside stand where they sell fresh fish and sugar cakes. Use of island dialect lends authenticity: Jasmine remarks that "De sky blue for so. . . . Plenty people go want to come play at de beach today." As Jasmine and her friend visit the various other vendors (selling crab soup, coconut water, mangoes and polished conch shells), a stream of brightly colored cars brings surfers and swimmers to the beach. Dominated by electric pinks and greens, Grifalconi's energetic, large-scale illustrations make the book's tropical setting come very much alive. Once again, Joseph depicts an island ritual that shows the old and the new in delicate balance. Age’s 4-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
from School Library Journal
Preschool-Grade 2-Young Jasmine accompanies her mother to sell fish and sugar cakes at a "parlour," a market stand near the beach at Maracas Bay in Trinidad. Before the beachgoers arrive and the workday begins, the girl visits her friends at the other stands, and then returns to help her mother. Joseph's lighthearted story is written in a modified dialect and captures the sights and sounds of island life. The narrative is vivid and flowing, relying on humor rather than suspense to hold readers' attention. Jasmine, for instance, arranges the fish in size order, as is done in school, but with the smallest one in back, for "she never liked being a little fish in front." Grifalconi's watercolors are bold, bright, and sun dappled, but have a hurried, unfinished look. Nonetheless, this entertaining story will make a successful read-aloud.
Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Siena College Library, Loudonville, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 3-7. Like Joseph's Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems (1990), this is a celebratory picture of island life in Trinidad. Parlour Day is market day at the beach. Jasmine and her mother carry their fresh fish and sugar cakes to their wooden parlour stall and set up for the day. Then, with her best friend, Jasmine visits the other stalls to see who's there and what they're selling: shark 'n' bake at one stall; spicy mango chutney and poulari balls at another; huge conch shells here; guavas, soursops, and mangoes there. The language is lively, with occasional lilting dialogue. Not really a story, but a vital scene of one child and her community. Hazel Rochman
Inspiration:
Sunday at Maracas Beach was when all the shops on the beach were opened selling all kinds of goodies. We went every single Sunday and ate poulari balls and doubles, shark and bake and pepper mangoes and tamarind balls. We played soccer and swam, climbed coconut trees and danced. My memories of Maracas Beach live on in this book. I recently returned to Maracas with my father, and it was just like I remembered-nothing had changed, except they added a parking lot across the road and bath houses. I will always treasure my times spent there with my family and friends.
Sunday at Maracas Beach was when all the shops on the beach were opened selling all kinds of goodies. We went every single Sunday and ate poulari balls and doubles, shark and bake and pepper mangoes and tamarind balls. We played soccer and swam, climbed coconut trees and danced. My memories of Maracas Beach live on in this book. I recently returned to Maracas with my father, and it was just like I remembered-nothing had changed, except they added a parking lot across the road and bath houses. I will always treasure my times spent there with my family and friends.
