SWEET LABA CONGEE

In what looks like a small Chinese village, the young protagonist introduces readers to the Laba Festival, celebrated on the eighth day of the 12th month of the lunar year. Through deceptively simple poetic prose and whimsical typesetting, readers learn that making sweet laba congee, a tasty porridge made from many valuable ingredients, is a highlight of the holiday. The family prepares the ingredients the day before and then cooks it on a traditional wood-burning stove (not their new gas stove) to guarantee that “it will be perfect.” Then they use it as an offering to their ancestors, asking for good luck for themselves and their family, including the child’s father, who is “working in a different city.” They take some in a pot to elderly neighbors, and they smear it on the big persimmon tree that grows in the yard of their home compound. Most importantly, the grandmother, mother, and child sit to enjoy it together. Delicate and charming illustrations of village life recall an earlier time, but hints like having a gas stove and an uncle away at university indicate that this may be a deliberate nod to those who live in poorer conditions right now.

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