Estela's Swap

December 15, 2002
K-Gr. 3. It's early Sunday morning at the Santa Ana Swap Meet, and Estela is excited. Today she hopes to sell something--a music box--for the first time, and then use the money for dance lessons. Watching her father she learns how to bargain, but she can't find a buyer for her own item. Another vendor admires the music box, just as Estela admires the dancing skirt that the vendor is sewing. There's no exchange of money; instead, Estela and the vendor trade the box and skirt as gifts. Like Juan Felipe Herrera's " Grandma and Me at the Flea "[BKL Ap 1 02], this is a warm, nicely paced story about sharing and bartering that's filled with sensory descriptions of the vibrant open market. The textured acrylics capture the hum and bustle of the stalls, but the colorful scenery doesn't overwhelm the story; Sanchez paints the characters in sharp focus, so that they pop out against the blurred, evocative background scenes. A good starting point for classroom discussion across the curriculum.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)