The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story [Paperback]

Pegi Deitz Shea (Author), Anita Riggio (Illustrator), You Yang (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

A young girl in a Thai refugee camp in the mid-1970's finds the story within herself to create her own pa'ndau.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Hmong refugee girl remembers painful episodes from her life in a pa'ndau, a traditional story cloth. Close-up photos of Yang's textured needlework "add to the [tale's] poignancy," said PW. Ages 3-8.
- poignancy," said PW. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4?A small Hmong girl lives with her grandmother in a Thai refugee camp, where she learns to embroider the pa'ndau, the story cloth that is an important source of income for the refugee women. Mai's story begins as her parents are killed by soldiers while they sleep. She is rescued from the battle by her grandmother, who carries her across the Mekong in a basket. The child adds a hopeful end to her work with a stitched scene of herself and Grandmother flying away from the refugee camp to a land where she plays in the snow, swims in the surf, and sleeps with Grandmother in a fine bed. When at last the pa'ndau is finished, the embroidered images of the child's mother and father whisper that the cloth is not for sale. Shea has based her story on the experiences of refugees at Ban Vinai camp in Thailand. She recounts the horror of her young heroine's life in a detached tone, much like a child whose sanity depends on detachment. Riggio's tropical rain watercolor paintings are bordered with the geometric designs of the clothing, while Mai's work is depicted with photos of the embroidery stitched by You Yang. The two mediums blend with success. A tale of restrained anguish, it ends nevertheless on a note of stubborn optimism.?Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Pr (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563976234
• ISBN-13: 978-1563976230
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 9.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi! Thanks for your interest in my work. I LOVE to meet readers at school visits and teacher conferences, and share my writing processes. Please visit www.pegideitzshea.com for details.

Right now, I'm celebrating the release of my "lucky" 13th book, NOAH WEBSTER: WEAVER OF WORDS. I'm also in press (editing) my first YA novel, ABE IN ARMS, about a former boy soldier from Liberia having a hard time adjusting to high school in the US. I've co-written a nonfiction picture book with Iris VanRynbach called THE TAXING CASE OF THE COWS: A TRUE STORY ABOUT SUFFRAGE. We're thrilled that Caldecott winner, Emily Arnold McCully, is illustrating it! It should be out Fall 2010 or Spring 2011.

I'm working on writing 2 projects: SNAKE BOY, SISTER SPY, a YA novel based on the teen exploits of my aunt and uncle in the French Resistance during WWII; also, I'm working with UCONN marine biologists on a series called AQUANAUTS: TEEN HEROES OF THE SEAS.

I teach at UCONN and the Institute of Children's Literature. I love sharing my knowledge, energy, and passion for writing.

Learn more about me at my website, or email me at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't know this book was a story about Hmong people., February 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story (Paperback)

Hmong is a group of people that live in the high mountains in South China or they could live in Laos but in the mountains. They speak four different kinds of languages: Lao, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese. Whenever I read a book about a language like Lao I get very interested and I want to ask my parents about it because they are from a refugee camp, too. I ask my parents lots of questions until it blows their minds because I ask too much questions!! For example I ask "Did you swim to Thailand?" "How did you get to New York?" and lots more. I ask lots of questions until they answer me. My parents survived from the refugee and the soldiers. They swam to Thailand, if the army or soldiers saw one of my parents they would ask questions or instead they would shoot one of them. What I heard was the army took the Lao people and took them to the refugee camp! This book is a believable story and you use your imagination about the cloth talking and speaking. I would recommend this book to any child or grown up who is interested in a refugee's story.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Moving!, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story (Paperback)

I wish I would have spent more time with the Hmong in Thailand. I found this story very moving and the immigrants strength and resilience in surviving wonderful to see. I am excited to share this with my students several of whom are refugees from war and conflict.

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost No Art, and Nothing New, December 24, 2009

By 

Mateo (Mexico City) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story (Paperback)

This book suffers for its illustrations, some of which are downright unattractive; there is very little actual needlework featured in the book. And, no new territory is covered by the text. This publication unintentionally makes the point that the time has come for people to stop marketing the Hmong refugee experience.