ROSES SING ON NEW SNOW

The Canadian author of Tales from Gold Mountain (1991) tells another story about the Chinese-American experience. While Maylin does the cooking for her family's Chinatown restaurant, her greedy father and two fat brothers take all the credit. When her specially prepared dish, ``Roses Sing on New Snow,'' is served to the visiting governor of South China, he asks the brothers to show him how it was made. They fail miserably; and even when Maylin is summoned and the governor works beside her in order to learn her secrets, the food he prepares is inferior to hers. ``If you and I sat down with paper and brush and black ink, could we bring forth identical paintings?'' Maylin asks, winning a reputation for wisdom as well as for cooking. Chan, a native of Hong Kong, makes a fine debut with his carefully researched watercolors, setting the story early in this century; evocative with period detail, they nicely convey the story's drama and humor. A satisfying variant on a theme that appears in many cultures. (Picture book. 4-8)