Now We Can Have a Wedding - Hardcover

Judy Cox is an elementary school teacher and the author of many works for children, including chapter books, such as Cool Cat, School Cat, and picture books, such as Now We Can Have a Wedding! Illustrated by DyAnne Disalve-Ryan. She lives in Oregon.

A wedding just isn't a wedding without lots of good food to eat. So when Sallie announces that she's getting married, each of the neighbors in her apartment building prepares a traditional wedding delicacy in her honor. The narrator, Sallie's younger sister, travels from apartment to apartment, watching and helping as Mrs. Haru makes tai shio-yaki (a Japanese fish dish), Mr. Gonzales prepares his tamales, Signora Theodora bakes her biscotti, etc. On the big day, the wedding table is set with a fabulous multiethnic feast. Debut author Cox cleverly combines the meanings of the terms "melting pot" and "pot luck." (A similar story can be found in Sylvia Rosa-Casanova and Robert Roth's Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice.) The sturdy pacing builds on judicious repetition. The down-to-earth dialogue, meanwhile, defuses the threat of ethnic stereotyping by playing up what the characters have in common: their pleasure in preparing for a wedding and in sharing their traditions. Similarly, DiSalvo-Ryan's (City Green; Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen) breezy watercolors emphasize joyful characters and homey kitchen settings. The cozily crowded spreads, generously sprinkled with culinary equipment and foodstuffs, generate a mood of informal hospitality, just like the story. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.