This distinctive autobiographical picture book features a Chinese immigrant family living in Guatemala City. Told from the point of view of their youngest daughter, the story centers on all the activity in and around the family's busy store on a typical day. Aspects of the family's Chinese heritage are interwoven with cultural details relating to their new home in Guatemala; the brightly colored Chinese thread the family sells, for example, is popular with Mayan weavers, who take a bus from their village far away to shop in the Chinese store. Carling's detailed watercolor paintings give a good sense of life in on a bustling city street in Central America, as well as the specifics of little Amelia's family life. (Ages 4-8)