Guacamole

Un poema para cocinar / A Cooking Poem

by Jorge Argueta, illustrated by Margarita Sada, translated by Elisa Amado

tagged: cooking & food, mexico

Description

Guacamole is the third title of Jorge Argueta's popular bilingual Cooking Poems series, celebrating the joys of preparing, eating and sharing food.

Now available in paperback, Guacamole is the third title of Jorge Argueta’s popular bilingual Cooking Poems series, celebrating the joys of preparing, eating and sharing food.

Guacamole originated in Mexico with the Aztecs and has long been popular in North America, especially in recent years due to the many health benefits of avocados. This version of the recipe is easy to make, calling for just avocados, limes, cilantro and salt. A little girl dons her apron, singing and dancing around the kitchen as she shows us what to do. Poet Jorge Argueta sees beauty, magic and fun in everything around him — avocados are like green precious stones, salt falls like rain, cilantro looks like a little tree and the spoon that scoops the avocado from its skin is like a tractor.

As in all the titles in this series, Guacamole conveys the pleasure of making something delicious to eat for people you really love. A great book for families to enjoy together.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.2
With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.5
Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.6
Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text.

About the Authors

Jorge Argueta

JORGE ARGUETA, a Pipil Nahua Indian from El Salvador and Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, is a prize-winning author of more than twenty children’s books. His book Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and was named to USBBY’s Outstanding International Books List, ALA Notable Children’s Books and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices. Jorge is the founder of the International Children's Poetry Festival Manyula and the Library of Dreams, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy in El Salvador. Jorge divides his time between San Francisco, California, and El Salvador.

Margarita Sada is a well-known Mexican artist. She lives in Mexico City.

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

Age:: 4 to 7
Grade:: p to 2
Reading age:: 4 to 7

Editorial Reviews

This vibrant and lively poem is perfect for encouraging children to engage with cooking and food preparation…

— CM Magazine

A bilingual treat.

— Kirkus Book Reviews

The illustrations are delightful, making each ingredient special and memorable.

— Junior Library at SLJ

I love the way this book shows cooking as something we can do with our family, and also something we can do for our family, and regardless, is connected to togetherness.

— Pickle Me This Blog

Argueta’s poetic imagination transforms big, beautiful avocados into 'green precious stones,' cilantro into 'little trees,' the mixing spoon into a tractor scoop…

— Jama's Alphabet Soup

This fanciful, imaginative narrative is as much poetry as it is a recipe.

— SLJ

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'.

— Publishers Weekly

Groundwood Books (Libros Tigrillo) never fails to deliver beautiful stories filled with culture and warmth.

— Latin Baby Book Club

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