WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A PALETA? QUE PUEDES HACER CON UNA PALETA

A little Mexican-American girl introduces readers to the joy of a delicious, frozen, fruit-flavored popsicle, a paleta, that thrills Mexican children during the hot summer days. There is so much to do with a paleta other than make friends and paint your tongue green and purple, or give yourself a big, blue mustache or just devouring the icy sweetness of the paletas. Vibrant illustrations in every paleta. Readers 4-8. Written by Carmen Tafolla, illustrated by Magaly Morales

EVERYBODY LOVES GRANDMA

This grandma is round like a calabaza, a pumpkin, has a cat named Frida Kahlo, makes tortillas by hand to eat with breakfast, sings songs about her bedroom slippers and loves her work. Everyday she and her grandson gather up her props and stuff her jalopy with the things she needs for work--a temple with skinny stairs, a king and queen, stalks of corn, a skeleton, one sun, one moon, a plumed snake and a feathered crown. What job does she do with all of these things? Share My Abuelita by Tony Johnston (the Library's One Book/One Glendale author in 2008) with a child who loves stories and find the answer.

Photos of handmade dolls and Mexican crafts by Yuyi Morales enhance the experience in the lovely picture book for preschoolers and their lucky reader.

BUTTERFLIES ON CARMEN STREET/MARIPOSAS EN LA CALLE CARMEN

Julianita is excited because today is Butterfly Day at school. The students will learn about monarch butterflies and get to take home their own to raise. Walking her to school from their home on Carmen Street, her grandfather tells her about the town where he is from in the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, where the butterflies migrate every winter. Her teacher, Ms. Rodríguez, tells the students about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, and how they fly thousands of miles south from North America to winter in warm Mexico. Share Butterflies on Carmen Street by Marcia Brown with a favorite someone.

Grades 1-2, Ages 6-7.