Margo's Musings: Cooking Up Words...

My little sister, Margo, loves birds. We have fun as a family watching them in our backyard. So many varieties to admire! She loves to try to imitate them, so I wasn't surprised when she came home from the Ashpot Library with Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina. I'm sure the bird on the cover caught her eye.

In this book, Mia’s grandmother comes to live with them in the city. They’ll be sharing a bedroom, but they have trouble communicating. Mia doesn’t know how to say what she wants to say in Spanish, and her grandmother (abuela) doesn’t know many words in English. They begin doing little things every day to help them talk to each other. When they’re cooking, the grandmother will say the Spanish word for an ingredient and Mia repeats it, and then says the English word for each item. When Mia remembers what her class did to help a new student who was learning English, she puts words on top of objects all around the apartment so her grandmother will know how to say them in English. To make her grandmother feel more comfortable, Mia asks her mom to buy a parrot so her grandmother will be reminded of the one in her garden back at her old home. The parrot is a wonder and repeats words it hears Abuela and Mia say to each other. Another way for the two to learn to understand each other!

This was a fun story that will help people learn some words/phrases in Spanish or English. The illustrations are bright and interesting. Even more exciting- Margo and I learned some Spanish words!

Has anyone else read Mango, Abuela, and Me? Or have you read another book by Meg Medina? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

~ F