Genre: Picture Book/Fiction
Grade Level: PreK - 2
Interest Level: 3-8
Themes: summertime fun, summer days in the barrio, neighborhood traditions, eating delicious paletas(ice cream/fruit bars), Mexican/Mexican American culture
What I Thought
Summertime is ice cream time and Carmen Tafolla's book takes me right back to summer days, outdoors with friends, and squeals of delight at the sound of the approaching ice cream truck. The sounds and smells of summer in a Mexican/Mexican American barrio (neighborhood) bound off of the page with Tafollas descriptive text dotted with Spanish words and cultural images. The images come to life with vibrant illustrations by Magaly Morales (who happens to be Yuyi Morales' sister). There are beautiful brown people, working, playing, walking the streets, brightly colored sarapes, and a wagon full of paletas that looks like a new box of crayons. The narrator begins to share things that can be done in her barrio, but once the "tinkly bell" of the paleta wagon is heard, her imagination and narration begin to list the wonderful things that can be done "with a paleta". The book comes in an English/Spanish version and an English version, with the Spanish words italicized in the text.
Instructional Possibilities
This text provides instructional opportunities to meet many Common Core standards for reading literature, including (but not limited to) asking/answering questions about the text, retelling, describing setting and characters using key details, and identifying words that appeal to the senses. In addition, using the information from the illustrations to help demonstrate understanding of the story works well with the vivid pictures, in particular in discussions where you might be identifying cultural elements in the story and/or doing a picture walk through the book. There is opportunity for responsive vocabulary instruction using the Personal Thesaurus for synonym development. This strategy would work well for many grade levels, with a supply of tier 1, 2 words, and even a tier 3 word or two in the text. The story is also a great model text if you are working on student narratives or writing detailed descriptions. Think of ways to incorporate several CLR strategies for movement, effective literacy strategies, and protocols for discussion/participation in order to effectively engage students in the text and meeting of the standards.
This text provides instructional opportunities to meet many Common Core standards for reading literature, including (but not limited to) asking/answering questions about the text, retelling, describing setting and characters using key details, and identifying words that appeal to the senses. In addition, using the information from the illustrations to help demonstrate understanding of the story works well with the vivid pictures, in particular in discussions where you might be identifying cultural elements in the story and/or doing a picture walk through the book. There is opportunity for responsive vocabulary instruction using the Personal Thesaurus for synonym development. This strategy would work well for many grade levels, with a supply of tier 1, 2 words, and even a tier 3 word or two in the text. The story is also a great model text if you are working on student narratives or writing detailed descriptions. Think of ways to incorporate several CLR strategies for movement, effective literacy strategies, and protocols for discussion/participation in order to effectively engage students in the text and meeting of the standards.
Cultural Authenticity
The thing that is great about this text is that you can trust that Tafolla is giving us a beautiful, clear snapshot of authentic Mexican American life. She is a Mexican American author and she is writing about what she knows, understands and who she is. Likewise for the illustrations that Magaly Morales presents us with. We don't have to question the intention or if there are stereotypes present. We can simply read, validate and affirm those students we have of Latino heritage and build and bridge towards an understanding of the cultural elements present in the text. The illustrations, word choice and of course that the book is about the icy, traditional Latino treat, paletas all work together to create this culturally authentic text. The last page of the book is a page "About Paletas" that explains what a paleta is and lists the delicious flavor choices in English and Spanish.
Skip, run, enjoy and icy summertime treat....and go get this book!
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