Help identify short story about poor inner-city Hispanic art student
September 5, 2014 8:24 PM Subscribe
Hi,
My friend and I read this story in elementary school and cannot remember the title.
Here are details we remember:
-- the main character is this inner-city (New York, we think) girl who only has 3 smocks, which her mother irons for her every week
-- she takes a bus to an art class that other students get driven to
-- she's Hispanic, we're pretty sure
-- she has an assignment to paint her house, which makes her really nervous because she lives in an apartment building
-- her mother tells her to "paint what is true" when she can't do the house assignment
-- she draws the busts of various composers on her building (Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, Hadyn, or a subset) carefully
-- her art teacher really likes her work, despite her nervousness, because it has heart
Thanks for any help tracking it down!
Here are details we remember:
-- the main character is this inner-city (New York, we think) girl who only has 3 smocks, which her mother irons for her every week
-- she takes a bus to an art class that other students get driven to
-- she's Hispanic, we're pretty sure
-- she has an assignment to paint her house, which makes her really nervous because she lives in an apartment building
-- her mother tells her to "paint what is true" when she can't do the house assignment
-- she draws the busts of various composers on her building (Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, Hadyn, or a subset) carefully
-- her art teacher really likes her work, despite her nervousness, because it has heart
Thanks for any help tracking it down!
Nice! (In case that Amazon link goes away - it's Maria's House, by Jean Merrill, 1974)
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:51 PM on August 31, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:51 PM on August 31, 2015
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posted by watermelon at 4:19 PM on August 30, 2015