Snapshots from the Wedding is a picture book written by Gary Soto and illustrated
by Stephanie Garcia. The book won the Pura Belpré Award for Illustration in 1998.
Every
little girl dreams of her own wedding, but the next best thing is the great
honor of being selected as the Flower Girl.
This picture book describes the Latino wedding of Isabel and Rafael,
from Maya, the Flower Girl’s perspective.
Maya lovingly introduces the bride and groom. She is a keen observer of everyone present
including her silly cousin and the bored altar boy. She tells of the mothers and the babies
crying during the ceremony. Maya chronicles
the reception including a description of the Mariachi band and how they look
when she is tired. She talks about what
she eats, and even of spilling some on her dress and socks. She is worn out as she heads home with mole
on her chin.
Each
wedding description is accompanied by Stephanie Garcia’s three-dimensional
artwork. The story is illustrated using
photographs of clay figurines and trinkets arranged in shadow boxes. Often the page will contain an inner frame
which includes the main character or focus of that page. The pages look as though Maya is setting up a
dollhouse to describe her memories of the special day.
Impression
I honestly have mixed reviews about this book and
the artwork. While the style of the
story and artwork is not necessarily to my taste, I found that there was much
to appreciate between the covers of this book. I found the story to be a bit boring. Perhaps I have been to too many weddings, but
there was not much out of the ordinary here.
The three-dimensional clay figures, with their strange faces seemed
child-like. That may have been what she
was going for though since it is from a child’s perspective.
After setting the book aside
for a few days, I began to think about the many ways this book could be used
with children. For that reason, and that
the illustrations out of the ordinary I certainly see its worth.
Library Uses
The TEKS for Social Studies
in several grades include family and cultural traditions. This book would be invaluable for a
collaborative effort of a social studies teacher and a school librarian. Students could discuss weddings they have
been to and compare them to the wedding of Isabel and Rafael. Also, students could discuss the small
differences you may find in a Latino and Anglo wedding. Finally, all families have their own unique
traditions and this book could segue to a discussion about the various kinds of
family traditions.
The type of artwork in this
book would be fun for students to create.
The book could be used as an inspiration for the three-dimensional
shadow box art. This art could have many
uses, including illustrating a scene from a favorite book, or as done here, a
cultural tradition. Students could study
traditions in other countries and create a similar diorama to illustrate it.
Professional Reviews
Photographs of shadowboxes
filled with sculpted clay figures form the eye-catching art for Soto's
""diary"" of Maya, a flower girl. The text, sprinkled with
Spanish words, is eloquent and funny (a bride's hands are ""soft as
doves""; a cousin wiggles his tongue ""in the space between
his baby teeth, white as Chiclets"")-and it deftly captures the
flavor of a Latino wedding, complete with mariachi band. Garcia's singular,
deliciously creative artwork steals the show here, however. More playful than
the dioramas she composed for The Old Lady and the Birds, these lifelike,
three-dimensional scenes serve as an elaborate stage set. Readers will be
enthralled by Garcia's use of details, from the ""actors""
and ""actresses"" decked out in wedding finery to the
garlanded ribbons festooned across the shadowboxes to the objects that enhance
each scene (tiny silk flowers in the bride's bouquet; potato chips on the
buffet table). Using Soto's words as a springboard, Garcia tweaks the
perspective, offering a legs-and-feet-only view, for instance, of a scene in
which Maya describes the younger wedding guests' ""shoes
off"" romp down the hallway (complete with authentically dusty soles
of socks). Another ""snapshot"" shows a pair of sculpted
hands holding a plate with a flower-topped slice of wedding cake. A happy
marriage of talents. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
-- Publishers Weekly
From Soto (Off and Running,
1996, etc.), a celebratory, child's-eye look at a wedding that captures the
traditional mingling of the surreal and the sublime. A flower girl, Maya, tells
in a pitch-perfect accent about the groom, Rafael, who is at the altar with his
arm in a cast (he slid into home playing softball and scored, but broke his
wrist), and a host of other relatives and strangers. Crying babies, the altar
boy's dirty sneakers, an inconvenient sneeze, and the glow in the bride
Isabel's eyes are reported with equal fervor. At the reception, Maya puts a
pitted olive on each finger, finds mole sauce on her gown, and dances, riding
on her father's feet. While the family is Mexican-American, the wedding's
touching and silly moments are universal. Garcia's illustrations, photographs
of Sculpy clay figures and collage, are pink and white and delicious,
reminiscent of both reredos and scenes from a dollhouse. With all the problem
books in the world, it's a delight to encounter one that talks about a happy
event and its attendant joys. This is a triumph of true-to-life storytelling,
with all the good parts left in. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)
--Kirkus Review, 1997
References
Children's Book Review:
Snapshots from the Wedding by Gary Soto, Author, Stephanie Garcia, Illustrator.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-22808-7
SNAPSHOTS FROM THE WEDDING by
Gary Soto , Stephanie Garcia | Kirkus. (1997). Retrieved February 26, 2015,
from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gary-soto/snapshots-from-the-wedding/
Soto, G., & Garcia, S.
(1998). Snapshots from the wedding. New York: Putnam & Grosset
Group.
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