The Journey of Manie Shaved Ice
A fascinating family history involving migration, perseverance and shaved ice
This book, richly illustrated in tropical colours, tells the fascinating story of the illustrator Hedy Tjin’s great-grandfather, the man who introduced shaved ice to the South American country of Suriname. This treat consists of fine shavings of ice with sweet syrup poured over it, and it’s known by different names all over the world.
The book begins in the Netherlands, where the young Hedy is celebrating Queen’s Day with her family. The conversation turns to her great-grandfather Francisco. In the early twentieth century, when he was seventeen, he faced the prospect of fighting in a war or dying of starvation, so he decided instead to run away from Madeira, the island where he was born.
A humorous element is the way Hedy’s family keeps breaking into the story, peering over the edges of the pages and squabbling in speech bubbles about what actually happened in Francisco’s life: ‘Do you know that? Or do you just think that?’ asks Aunt Rigoni. To which Grandma replies: ‘I know that for certain. I think.” Interruptions of this kind, combined with informative asides about history, make this a dynamic and varied reading experience
Francisco stows away on a ship to Brazil, where he works on sugar plantations before moving to Suriname and starting a family. But he has to leave his family behind again to go and earn money in Trinidad, where his encounter with shaved ice is the beginning of a new life for him.
Zevenbergen tells this story about migration, perseverance and resilience in a relaxed way, but always stays firmly in control, as can be seen by the way she composes the story. For instance, the apotheosis of Francisco’s journey takes place on Konfriyari, formerly the Surinamese Queen’s Day, and a successful metaphor involving socks runs throughout the book. When he leaves Madeira, he loses a sock, and the other one later becomes his piggy bank. The socks represent his divided life: he has one foot still on his home soil, and the other in his new country.
The final sentence of this shaved-ice story, which is true in part or perhaps entirely, is also nicely done: ‘If you’re not sure that your story’s quite right, then just pour lots of lovely syrup over it.'