REVIEW OF YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO! AMERICAS' SPROUTINGS!

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mora, Pat. YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO! AMERICAS' SPROUTINGS! Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-58430-271-1.

 

B. PLOT SUMMARY
The book is made up of a list of indigenous plant-based foods of the Americas. Each plant-based food gets a page that gives information about it in the form of standard text. Also, each plant-based food gets a haiku written about it. The plant-based foods listed are blueberry, chile pepper, chocolate, corn, cranberry, papaya, peanut, pecan, pineapple, potato, prickly pear, pumpkin, tomato, and vanilla.

 

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
This picture book teaches readers about important indigenous plant-based foods of the Americas. The haikus used in the book are poetic descriptions of the plant-based foods. The narrative passages provide a lot of great information about the plants used for these foods.

The narrative passages explain the origins of the plant use as a food. How the original inhabitants of the Americas used first used these plants is included in the story. The author crosses disciplines as she adds explanations that touch on other subject areas such as science, botany, artificial selection, agricultural science, and others. For instance, in her passage about corn, the author explains how corn started as a grass that, over centuries, evolved through artificial selection into the plant that we recognize today.   

The author does not limit herself to only the Latino/Latina culture as she tells her story. She includes how other cultures were impacted by, and contributed to the use of the various food products in her book. The author tells how Native Americans enjoyed and used blueberries, corn, cranberries, potatoes, prickly pear cactus, pumpkin, and vanilla in their cultures. She also shares how African American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver came up with over 300 uses of peanuts. The author also includes the French culture in her information about pecans. She also includes the Spanish culture in her discussion of pineapples.

Regarding how Native Americans used these plants, the author provides specific information about specific Native American groups. She includes the Aztec culture of Mexico, the Pueblo Indian culture of the southwestern United States, the Aymara Indian culture of Bolivia, and the Totonac Indian culture of Mexico. It is a pleasure to see the author give credit to individual Native American groups, instead of lumping them all together, as so many writers unfortunately do.

The author’s use of geography in her story includes all parts of the Americas, from North America to Central America to South America. She includes states and countries such as Maine, Wisconsin, Texas, Hawaii, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Boliva, and Ecuador.         

One of the most striking aspects of this book are the illustrations. They are vivid and go very well with the haikus and narrative text. They’re also whimsical and fun to look at while reading. The skin tones and hair colors of the characters run the gamut from light brown to medium brown to dark brown. The clothing is appropriate to the cultures represented. For instance, the cowboy hat worn by the father on the chile page fits both the culture and the geographical location in Mexico. The smoking volcano in the background may represent Popocatepetl, an active volcano in Mexico.     

While the book is great overall, there are nonetheless a few things in the book that I question. For instance, on one of the pages devoted to chocolate there is a scene of a boy and a building that look like they came straight out of the Disney movie “Aladdin.” The image absolutely does not seem to fit the book. Another image in the book that I miss the point of is the strange dog-like creature gathering the fruit of the prickly pear. I see the juxtaposition between the canid’s sharp teeth and the pointy quills of the cactus, but all I can ask is, “why?”. Finally, the last image that I have mixed feelings about is the abuela shown in the picture of the family enjoying time together eating pecans. On one hand, yes, the abuela’s clothing is traditional, but it’s almost a trope to have abuelas presented in this way. I think if the picture had indicated a time further in the past, I wouldn’t have thought it as cliched, but having a gas-powered truck in the picture indicates its not based that far back in time. I really have mixed feelings about this representation of the abuela. On one hand, I’m good with it; but, on the other hand, it is a bit of a stereotype.     

D. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books (2008)

Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year (2008)

Lasting Connections, Book Links (2007)

Great Lakes Great Books Award Master List (2008-2009)

School Library Journal: “This concept book serves as a delicious introduction to 14 types of food, all of which have their origins in the Americas. Snippets of information and a haiku poem accompany each one, ranging from blueberry and chili pepper through papaya, prickly pear, and vanilla. Using English and a smattering of Spanish words, Mora crafts a playful introduction to each one, as in "Pumpkin": "Under round luna,/scattered tumblings down the rows,/autumn's orange face." The sense of whimsy is further underscored in López's colorful acrylic on wood-panel illustrations. Artful compositions and brilliant complementary colors bear out the book's multicultural themes. 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: “This inventive stew of food haiku celebrates the indigenous foods of the Americas.” 

Kirkus: “Haiku celebrating the diversity of edible plants native to the Americas—blueberries, chocolate, prickly pears, pecans and more. Each spread includes an informative paragraph explaining the probable origin, history and some trivia for the plant described in the poem. (The word pecan, for example, comes from a French word meaning, “nut to be cracked on a rock.”) López’s vibrant, folklorish illustrations make the book a visual feast, but the haikus are uneven. Some (Chiles: “Dad bites green mouth-fire / laughs when tears fill his eyes, sighs / ‘Mmmm! This heat tastes good’ “) evoke the essence of their subject; others (Potato: Underground magic. / Peel brown bundle, mash, pile high. / Salt and pepper clouds) are just confusing. More interesting as social science than as poetry, but visually gorgeous.”

E. CONNECTIONS
This children’s picture book provides a great introduction to the indigenous plant-based foods of the Americas. The book is also a great introduction to the foods of the American Latino culture.  

Look for these other children’s books with an emphasis on Latino foods:

Kramer, Jackie A. EMPANADAS FOR EVERYONE. ISBN 9781665914581
Norman, Lissette. PLATANOS GO WITH EVERYTHING. ISBN 9780063067516  

Reynoso-Morris, Alyssa. PLATANOS ARE LOVE. ISBN 9781665902731 

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