Yum! MmMm! Que Rico! Americas' Sproutings By Pat Mora Ill. By Rafael Lopez

1.  Bibliography
Mora, Pat.  2007.  YUM! MMMM!  QUE RICO!  AMERICA'S SPROUTINGS.  Ill. by Rafael Lopez.  New York:  Lee & Low Books Inc.  ISBN 9781584302711


2.  Plot Summary
The author writes haiku's of different foods that the many different cultures have shared with each other to make them a popular addition to foods we eat everyday.  There is a haiku written about each type of food and on the side of the page is information about where the food originated and how it grows.  "Chocolate.  Fudge, cake pie, cookies.  Brown magic melts on your tongue.  Happy, your eyes dance"  (7).  This is an example of one of the many wonderful haiku's in the book.

3.  Critical Analysis
The text in this picture book is written in Haiku; which are seventeen syllable poems that come from Japan.  Information about each type of food is on the left hand side of each page.  The reader gains a better understanding of where the food came from and how it grows.  There is no plot or theme.  The author is letting the reader know where each food came from and doing a fun haiku about each item.  The setting takes place changes on every page depending where the type of food came from.  The text in the book clearly defines where each food comes from.  This is a strong cultural marker for the reader.  The book is fun to read with the haiku's and informative with the information provided about each type of food.
The illustrations in the book are bright and colorful.  The excitement of eating each type of food is evident on the characters faces.  The skin tone, facial features, body types, clothing, environment, and hairstyles change depending where the food came from.  One page can show a Native American girl with cranberries and the next can show a Mexican man eating a chile.  When the reader turns the page a different culture is shown with an exciting new environment. 

4.  Review Excerpts
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL says:  "The art conveys an infectious sense of fun, as smiling suns and moons beam down upon happy children and animals, along with a trumpet-wielding peanut-butter sandwich and a dancing pineapple. Teachers will find this a welcome addition to their social-studies units, but it should also win a broad general audience for its inventive, fun-filled approach to an ever-popular topic: food."
BOOKLIST remarks:  "This inventive stew of food haiku celebrates the indigenous foods of the Americas."

5.  Connections
This would be a wonderful book to use when introducing children to different types of foods and where they originated from.
Other books about food by Pat Mora:
Mora, Pat.  BOOK FIESTA.  ISBN 9780061288777
Mora, Pat.  LET'S EAT/ A COMAR!  ISBN 9780060850388