Guacamole

February 27, 2012
A girl in pigtails prepares guacamole for her family, which lives inside a giant, hollowed-out avocado. In unrhymed verse in both English and Spanish, the girl names the needed ingredients (“four big avocados,/ like green precious stones”), and turns the preparation into a joyful, imaginative celebration. Turning miniature, the girl and her siblings slide down slippery slopes of sliced avocado and shower in the sink with cilantro: “Mmmmm cilantro smells so good./ Mmm such a fresh,/ such a green smell.” Sada’s digitally enhanced oil paintings create bold contrasts with their festive colors—readers will practically be able to taste the “sour river of lime” Argueta describes. Ages 4–7.

September 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 3-In this third book in the series from Argueta, a young girl makes guacamole in a joyful, fanciful, imaginative narrative. A liberal dash of similes makes the poetry sing. However, the most unique thing about this book is the way that Sada's illustrations change perspective as the story progresses, showing the children smaller than the avocado itself. The magical realism of the children playing in and on the avocado make this book all about finding magic and wonder in the everyday. Kids reading the book can easily follow along and make guacamole themselves with the recipe that is provided at the end. Argueta's previous two cooking poem books, Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding (2010) and Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup (2009, both Groundwood) should also be part of your collection.

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
Grades 2-4 Argueta has won numerous awards, including the Americas Award for Latin American Literature and the Independent Publishers Book Award for Multicultural Fiction for Juveniles, for his bilingual English-Spanish titles for youth. In this latest effort, following Bean Soup / Sopa de frijoles (2009) and Rice Pudding / Arroz con leche (2010), he once again tempts readers with a dual-language recipe that captures the poetry and music of cooking. Here a young girl dances her way through the kitchen, giving instructions as she makes the title's savory Latin dish for her family. From the slippery, delicious flesh of the avocado to the lime's distinctive smell, the lines are filled with evocative, mouthwatering details that will capture even those children who have never created or tasted guacamole firsthand. Sada's oil-and-digitally-modified illustrations artfully extend the words' fanciful images of salt storms, lime-juice rivers, and avocados that are as valuable as green precious stones. In words and pictures, this memorable title shows how guacamole is a treat for the senses, and the imaginations, of families everywhere.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 3-This fanciful, imaginative narrative is as much poetry as it is a recipe. What makes Argueta's text sing is his liberal use of similes: the avocados are like "green precious stones" and the limes are "round as crystal marbles." As the story progresses, Sada's illustrations change the perspective. When the girl says that it's time to cut the avocados, she describes the pits as "smooth and slippery, like a slide." The illustration shows the narrator and two other children, now smaller than the avocado itself, sliding down the pit and into the hole created by its removal. Succeeding illustrations show the now diminutive children dancing on the table with salt spilled from a salt shaker and playing in the sink while washing the cilantro, which looks like a "little tree." Readers can easily follow the recipe and make guacamole themselves. Adult supervision is encouraged when a knife must be used. This delightful story ends with an eco-friendly encouragement to save the seeds so that more trees can grow: "more colors, more flavors." This selection is as tasty as the treat it describes!-Tim Wadham, Children's Literature Consultant, Fenton, MO

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Argueta follows Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding (illustrated by Fernando Vilela, 2010) with another simple, lyrical bilingual recipe for children. Three siblings cavort their way through the oldest one's description of making guacamole: "Yummy guacamole, / so greeny green, / as pure as love." Relying on four ingredients (avocados, limes, cilantro and salt), the author breaks the recipe into bite-sized steps for the smallest hands and enlivens the text with extra activities, such as singing and dancing. "Sing to the salt / as you shake it / so that little splatters / of white drizzle / fall like rain on the green avocado." Asterisks indicate the two steps where children may need adult help. The Spanish text appears over the English text, and both face Sada's fanciful illustrations, bright with the author's descriptive, often metaphoric palette. The illustrations bring the recipe to life, and children will delight in the antics of these happy children. Living in a hollowed-out avocado, the characters are small enough in some of the illustrations to slide on freshly cut fruits, play under the kitchen faucet and frolic in salt the size of popcorn. The end of the book finds the entire family enjoying the freshly made guacamole on the lawn outside their unusual abode. While the Spanish text loses a bit of its lyricism and repetition in translation, the overall effect will still be pleasing to young readers. A bilingual treat. (Picture book. 4-8)

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January 1, 2013
A young girl makes guacamole for her family in this fanciful book whose narrative is both poetry and a recipe. A liberal use of images and similes make Argueta's text sing. Sada's imaginative oil and digitally modified illustrations change perspective as the story progresses, showing children playing on enormous avocados and showering with cilantro in the kitchen sink.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)