Rice Pudding

 

Title:Cazuela:That The Farm Maiden Stirred

Author: Samantha R. Vamos

Illustrator: Rafael Lopez

Publishing Company: Charlesbridge Publishing

Copyright Date: 2011

Pages: 32

Genre/Category: Multicultural/ Hispanic

 I chose this book for the multicultural section. This story is about a girl who prepares a pot of rice pudding with the farm animals to serve at the fiesta. Throughout the story they sing and dance while adding the ingredients to the pot.

This is the duck

that went to the market

to buy the sugar

to flavor the LECHE

made fresh by the VACA

while teaching the CABRA

that churned the CREMA

to make the MANTEQUILLA

that went into the CAZUELA that the farm maiden stirred.  The story contained 21 Spanish words embedded in the text on every page. The author added a new Spanish word in place of the English word from the previous page.

The illustrations are bright with a mixture of collage, colored pencil, and watercolors. They reminded me of the Mexican markets, bright and colorful. I love how the illustrator used orange/yellow to make the illustrations pop off the pages, after starting with white pages and a small illustration on each. At the end of the book there is a Glossary of Spanish Words and a recipe for the pudding.

This book is recommended for second through sixth grade. It would be a great read-aloud for Latino Heritage Month and Cinco De Mayo. Use the book to create class discussions themes such as, farms, farm animals, food, recipes, and team work. I would use this in Home-Economics to try and prepare the rice pudding. This book has several awards Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor Book, ALA Notable Children's Book, Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts, NY Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, and Texas 2x2 Reading List.