Tashi and the Tibetan Flower Cure

August 8, 2011
When Tashi’s elderly Tibetan grandfather, Popola, falls ill, Tashi suggests they try the flower cure she’s heard him talk about. In Tibet, he says, sick people sit among flowers with their friends in the hope that the pollen will heal them. With the help of a friendly nurseryman and Tashi’s energetic encouragement, Popola pays a weekly visit to a nursery, becomes a minor celebrity among the nursery’s customers, and recovers in a way that doesn’t seem too farfetched. Rose (Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World) focuses on Tashi and her anxiety (when her mother drives Popola to the doctor, “My fingers fiddle with a loose button on my shirt while I wait”; when they return, “My heart races a hundred times faster than my legs as I run toward them”). The softly brushed paintings have a naïve, self-tutored look, but suit the text’s homespun tone. The story, outwardly realistic, turns on two charming ideas: that of a child using ancient wisdom to restore the health of a relative, and that of a sterile American suburb becoming as close-knit as a Tibetan village. Ages 6–11.