Weaving on a backstrap loom is an old tradition practiced by generations of Mayan women.  Ixchel watches her mother weave thread into beautiful fabric and dreams of weaving her own cloth.  Thread is scarce and there is not enough to share.  The money her mother earns from weaving will go to pay for school and books for Ixchel so it's important that her mother get all the thread she needs..which leaves very little for Ixchel.

What do you do when a problem comes your way?  Ixchel sits down and creates her own loom using branches and pajon grasses from the countryside around her home.  But she has no thread to weave and to create the colorful designs she is imagining.  It's only a matter of time before Ixchel looks around her with fresh eyes that suddenly see the plastic bags piling up everywhere. Gathering the many-colored bags, Ixchel cuts them into strips and begins to weave.

What she is creating is different.  She isn't using the traditional threads.  She has designed and created a beautiful rainbow using the plastic bags.  Would anyone at the market want to buy her rainbow?  Will she be able to help make money to pay for her school?  There's only one way to find out.

This is a lovely story set in Guatemala that encourages young readers and young listeners to see problems as opportunities, to consider the possibility of repurposing and recycling products in their everyday lives and appreciating the truth that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to afford to go to school.

32 pages        978-0892393749     Ages  6-9

Recommended by:  Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com