Southwest Children's Literature

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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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