Jalapeño Bagels
Book Review:
The story is about a boy named Pablo who is looking for something from
his culture to bring to his school's International Day. His parents
own a bakery and suggest that if he helps them, then he can pick something
from the bakery. His mother is Hispanic and together she and Pablo make
pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), empanadas de calabaza
(pumpkin turnovers), and chango (monkey man) bars. When Pablo
goes to help his father, who is Jewish, they make challah (braided
bread) and bagels. Toward the end of the book, Pablo's mother joins
his father and him in the kitchen, and together they mix the two cultures
to make jalapeño bagels. The illustrator, Robert Casilla's
pictures were made using rich watercolors to portray the main character
and the different types of foods made in the book.
This book is a wonderful tool to use if you are trying to teach students
about multiculturalism. The aspect of food engages the students in the
reading and the title helps them to predict what they think Pablo is
going to bring. The last few pages have two recipes one for chango bars
and the other for jalapeño bagels, and there is also a
glossary of the Spanish and Yiddish words with how they are sounded
out and what they mean.
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