PAINTED DREAMS

PLB 0-688-13902-7 Paint scavenged from a garbage pile, bits of red brick and white rocks, and brushes painstakingly made from chicken feathers and goat hairs are the only tools Ti Marie can afford for her works of art. Determined and creative despite her family’s poverty, she discovers that the cement wall at the local marketplace makes a perfect easel for her lush and intricate paintings and also attracts a welcome crowd of customer to the stall where Mama sells tomatoes and onions. Contemporary Haiti provides the backdrop for Ti Marie’s struggle to create beauty and joy in an impoverished village. Stock’s combines sophistication with childlike strokes of watercolor to give an eye-opening glimpse—as does her note at the end—into the culture of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. (Picture book. 5-8)