"While I was lying on the grass, I thought about
my neighbor, Siregar. Last summer he visited an
aquarium.
An aquarium!
He saw tropical fish of every color -
pink fish,
orange fish,
and teeny-tiny fish
with rainbow scales."
Readers learn early that Aisha and her family are not world travellers. While many of her friends visit places far from home, her family stays pretty close to where they live in Jakarta. Every summer they travel to Grandma's country home in a village nearby. Aisha longs to make a trip to a new destination.
She talks about her friend Jennie who is going to see snow this year. How lucky can she be? Talking about snow makes Aisha think of es campur; she asks her parents to stop where they always stop to have their favorite treat. It is 'white and crisp and crunchy', not unlike snow. Back in the car and moving on, she thinks about Dimas who will be staying with his family in a hotel that has a pool! Right outside the car's window, she can see the sparkling blue ocean. So lovely!
Their car breaks down, and they need help to fix it. Aisha and her father rest in a field of green grass at the side of the road to watch the beauty of the bright kites flying above their heads. As she considers all the colors she has seen on their trip to Grandma's house, Aisha chooses white as her favorite. Or maybe blue.
Realizing that no color holds a candle to seeing Grandma again, Aisha flies out of the car and into her arms. Aisha finally decides on yellow as her favorite as that is the color of her grandmother's soto soup! No need for her to worry about others and their vacations, Aisha loves being where she is right now.
Mixed media artwork brings to life the Indonesian setting. There is real beauty on the book's pages.
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