AMA'S PURSE

A family car trip enables magical memories, new and old, thanks to Ama’s magical purse.

“Thump! goes Ama’s purse as we start a new adventure.” Everyone piles in: parents in the front seats, Ama (Grandmother in various Chinese dialects) and the young narrator in the back. The quartet leave the city, making various stops; Ama’s purse releases charming surprises along the way. “A powder-white moon rabbit bounces merrily” across laps when Ama pulls out her compact. At the farmers market, Ama extracts her purse and “fragrant blooms begin to sprout from an island far away.” As the road swerves, Ama pulls out prayer beads wafting with “the smell of the smoky incense” to quell the protagonist’s motion sickness. The family stops at a gas station; when Ama stumbles and the purse tumbles, the child quickly retrieves and returns the precious treasures. Finally arriving at the beach, the family joyfully jumps into making new memories. Author and illustrator reunite after I Miss You Most (2024) with another adept collaboration. Yan enhances Cheng’s sweet prose with visual details: The narrator still requires a booster seat, the rising sun marks the family’s progress, and the loss of the child’s grandfather is fairly recent. Yan presents her spreads and scenes in soft, inviting hues, particularly highlighting the unconditionally nurturing relationship between grandparent and grandchild. The family is apparently of East Asian descent; the farmstand customers (the only other peripheral characters) are diverse.

An engaging multigenerational homage to enchanting family adventures.