Piecing Earth and Sky Together: A Creation Story from the Mien Tribe of Laos
by Nancy Raines Day (Author) Genna Panzarella (Illustrator)
In the beginning, a helper from heaven named Faam Koh came down to make the sky. His sister, Faam Toh, came down to make the earth...
So begins the delightful story of a very competitive pair who use the distinctive embroidery of the Mien people to create the earth and sky. Because both siblings want to make their part of the world the most beautiful, they work in secret until it is finally time to reveal their handiwork, and find out that the two pieces don't fit together!
The two try stretching the sky- only to result in some stuffing falling out as clouds, but Faam Toh solves the problem by stitching the fabric into mountains, rivers, gorges, and valleys. Only then do the earth and sky fit perfectly, allowing all the plants and animals to thrive.
Like the detailed Mien embroidery in the story, Nancy Raines Day's retelling of this traditional Mien tale and Genna Panzarella's striking illustrations also fit together like the earth and sky. Together, they create a book that is alive with the richness and beauty of the Mien culture and of the earth itself. An author's explanation of the tradition and significance of Mien embroidery follows the story.
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School Library Journal
K-Gr 4-In this myth, two siblings create earth and sky with needle and thread. At first, they compete with one another, embroidering in secret. However, when the brother's shimmering sky turns out to be too small for the sister's abundant earth, they must work together to find a solution. The results are depicted in a lavish double spread, enlarged by flaps, showing an Edenic Cambodian rain forest, rich in animal life. Cast within the frame of a story told by a grandmother while she and her small granddaughter stitch together, the tale is attributed by the author to older members of the Mien community from the Laotian Handcraft Project of Berkeley, CA. Using vivid colors, the illustrator places grandmother, granddaughter, and the newly created world on a white background while setting the mythic portion of the story on cosmic black. Though the realistic drawings are not particularly innovative, the effect is certainly dramatic. Grandmother and the brother and sister gods are shown in traditional clothing. An author's note explains the importance of embroidery to this culture, and pictures of traditional stitches are included. The book should be useful where creation myths are compared, where stitchery is valued, and where Southeast Asian stories are needed.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Creation
Laos
Yao (Southeast Asian people)
