Lolo's Sari-sari Store
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A little girl holds lessons learned in her grandfather’s sari-sari store close while adjusting to a new home in this sweet picture book about the joy of community, connection, and Filipino culture.
For one girl, summers used to mean helping Lolo run his sari-sari store, which was always brimming with goods for the neighborhood: shampoo packets for Ate Jane, rice and eggs for Tonton, and a sympathetic ear for anyone who needed it. “Sari-sari means a good variety—just look around and you’ll see. What help can you give your community?” Lolo would say, as he filled his shelves with what people would need.
Now that she’s far from the Philippines, she misses Lolo and the friendly faces that surrounded his sari-sari store. But when she remembers her grandfather’s words, her heart keeps Lolo close, and she starts to see opportunities for connection and community in her new home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Feelings of connection and service sustain a young narrator separated from their beloved Filipino grandfather in this bright tale focused on community-building. The unnamed narrator remembers how, in the Philippines, Lolo was more than a proprietor of a variety store. His work involved caring for friends and neighbors—through the items he sold, by offering "what people need the most... someone to listen," and via generosity to children and adults alike. Looking up at the stars at day's end, he'd ask his grandchild, "Aren't we so lucky we have more than enough to share?" Now, having joined Mama in America, "it's always cold, and the streets are mostly empty. I miss the familiar faces... I miss Lolo and his sari-sari store." To find community in a new home, the child returns to the lessons Lolo offered. Almeda's digital illustrations, bathed in golden light with dazzling contrasts, lend a warm feeling to Lee's sensate descriptions in a book about what makes a heart "feel full." Ages 4–8.
