Ixchel longs to weave beautiful fabric like her mother and the other women of their Guatemalan mountain home. But there’s not enough thread to spare for practice, so innovative Ixchel turns to alternative materials she finds around her. She learns that grass blades and raw wool can be woven on her homemade back-strap loom, but the finished product isn’t something that will sell in the market. Finally she turns to the empty plastic bags littering the ground of her community. Washed, dried, and cut into strips, they can be woven into fabric that “looked like a beautiful rainbow, almost as pretty as the weavings of her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers before her.” Dual English and Spanish language texts effectively use pattern and repetition to tell this fictionalized story, while an author’s note adds welcome background information about contemporary Mayan weavers who use thread from plastic bags to create products sold through fair trade cooperatives in countries including the United States. (Ages 4–8)

Bilingual English/Spanish. A young Mayan girl isn't allowed to use her mother's thread to weave, so with a little ingenuity she discovers how to repurpose plastic bags to create colorful weavings. Based on an actual recycling movement in Guatemala.

Ixchel wants to follow in the long tradition of weaving on backstrap looms, just as her mother, grandmother, and most Mayan women have done for more than two thousand years. But Ixchel's mother is too busy preparing her weavings for market. If they bring a good price, they will have money to pay for Ixchel's school and books. And besides, there is not enough extra thread for Ixchel to practice with.

Disappointed, Ixchel first tries weaving with blades of grass, and then with bits of wool, but no one would want to buy the results. As she walks around her village, Ixchel finds it littered with colorful plastic bags. There is nowhere to put all the bags, so they just keep accumulating.

Suddenly, Ixchel has an idea! She collects and washes the plastic bags. Then she cuts each bag into thin strips. Sitting at her loom, Ixchel weaves the plastic strips into a colorful fabric that looks like a beautiful rainbow--just like the weavings of Mayan women before her.