Skip to main content

Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico! America's Sproutings

Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico! American Sproutings is written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Rafael Lopez.  The book is written in a collection of haikus that focuses on fourteen foods that are native to Central and Southern America.  Readers are able to learn about each food, how it grows, and what it is.  The foods include fruits and vegetables, including blueberries,chile peppers, chocolate, corn, cranberries, papaya, peanuts, pecans, pineapple, potatoes, prickly pear, pumpkin, tomatoes, and vanilla.  The readers will surely be thinking Mmmm and Yum Yum!

Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico! American Sproutings allows for the reader to call forth their five senses as they read about each mouth-watering food.  Informational text is also provided with each haiku to offer etymology, history, geography, and interesting background for each food.  The haikus are also accompanied with humor and colorful illustrations to further engage the reader.  This book can be used to teach the origin of where the foods came from and to connect these foods to their own favorite foods.  This book is also great for expanding vocabulary because it does include etymological, linguistic, and historical information about the names of each of the foods.  In addition, readers can discuss how foods tell us about the past and what foods tell us about different cultures.  Readers can use a map or globe to identify the different countries on the unlabeled map at the beginning of the book.  This is a resourceful book that can be used in several different ways to educate readers about Hispanic culture.

Book List:

This inventive stew of food haiku celebrates the indigenous foods of the Americas. Each of the 13 poems appears on a gloriously colorful double-page spread, accompanied by a sidebar that presents information about the origin of the food. From blueberries to prickly pears to corn, the acrylic-on-wood-panel illustrations burst with vivid colors and stylized Mexican flair. The poems capture the flavor of the item in a way children can easily understand—“Chocolate: Fudge, cake, pie, cookies. / Brown magic melts on your tongue. / Happy, your eyes dance”; “Pineapple: A stiff, spiky hat / on thick prickly skin, inside / hide syrupy rings.” The print of the text in the sidebars is too small, but otherwise this will provide lots and lots of lip-smacking fun that teachers can use to supplement social studies and language arts units; they can also share one poem at a time, between other subjects. An author’s note, which addresses lingering scientific debate about the geographical origins of some of the featured foods, also includes a warm celebration of diversity: “We do know that all these plants were grown and enjoyed . . . long before Christopher Columbus or any other Europeans had ever tasted such wonderful foods. The world’s variety is amazing—and delicious.”

— Julie Cummins


ISBN-10: 1600602681
ISBN-13: 9781600602689
Author: Mora, Pat
Illustrated by: Lopez, Rafael
Interest Level: P-2
Publisher: Lee and Low
Publication Date: October 2007
Copyright: 2008
Page Count: 32

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baseball in April by Gary Soto

  Baseball in April is written by Mexican American author Gary Soto.  The book is a collection of short stories that describe the author's own experiences growing up in the central valley of California.  Each story is narrated by Latino teenagers who are in love,have dreams, make mistakes,and move through everyday life.  Even with the Latino influence, the conflicts and feelings expressed are universal.  Whether it is the joy of receiving a new doll, the anxiety of trying out for the Little League team, or the desire to stand above the crowd readers will be able to connect to the book.   In Baseball in Apri l, each short story has a strong theme, making this a great cultural resource for teaching theme.  Themes portrayed in the book include friendship,love, youth and growing up, and success versus failure, and standing out.  Baseball in April can be used for teaching both Hispanic/Latino culture and theme.   For example in the sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle

  Bravo! is written by Cuban American Margarita Engle.  It celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of talented Latinos through a series of poems.  A musician, botanist, a baseball player, and a pilot are just some of the Latinos portrayed in this book.  Biographical poems include Felix Varela from Cuba, Juana Briones from Mexico, Paulina Pedros from Cuba, Jose Marti from Cuba, Ynes Mexia from Mexico, Louis Agassiz Fuertes from Puerto Rico, Aida de Acosta from Cuba, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca from Mexico, Arnold Rojas from Mexico, Pura Belpre from Puerto Rico, George Melendez Wright from El Salvador, Julia de Burgo from Peurto Rico, Baruj Benacerraf from Venezuela, Tito Puente from Puerto Rico, Cesar Chavez from Mexico, Roberto Clemente from Puerto Rico, and Tomas Rivera from Mexico.  Bravo! also includes magnificent illustrations by Rafael Lopez.  Through his simple outlines and vibrant colors, he captures the lively personalities for each person....
Post a Comment
Read more

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

  Esperanza Rising  by Pam Munoz Ryan is an award winning historical fiction book based on the life of a Mexican migrant farmer in the 1930´s.  Esperanza is the daughter of a wealthy grape grower in Mexico.  Her life is good, until her father is killed by bandits.  Esperanza´s mother is convinced by her uncle to marry him, but after he burns down the ranch, Esperanza, her mother, and a family of former servants escape to California to become farmworkers.  Esperanza must learn to work hard.  When her mother falls ill, she joins the field workers through the crop seasons.  Other problems arise when farmers begin to strike and more migrant farmers arrive.  Esperanza must overcome struggles and keep her hope alive. Esperanza Rising will allow readers to learn a number of Spanish words about the lives of migrant farm workers during the 1930's as the character deals with strikes, discrimination, and harsh living conditions.  Readers can discus...
Post a Comment
Read more