Chicks and Salsa

Chicks and Salsa

Written By: Aaron Reynolds

Illustrated By: Paulette Bogan

Bloomsbury U.S.A Children’s Books, 2005

29 Pages

Picture Book

 

     I chose this book because of its illustrations on the front cover.  The book is about some farm animals that live on Mr. Nuthatcher’s farm.  The chickens on the farm decide they don’t want to eat chicken feed anymore. The rooster wants to find an answer to the problem.  While he is sitting on the fence outside the house, he notices that the farmer’s wife is watching a cooking show.  Then, it hits him…SALSA.  Then, the rooster takes the chickens to the garden to get tomatoes and onions; then, they eat chips and salsa.  Seeing the chickens eat their salsa makes the ducks on the farm realize that they don’t want to eat fish anymore.  The ducks also go to the garden; they pick out cilantro and garlic.  That evening, the ducks eat guacamole.  Since all of these wonderful smells were coming from the farm, the pigs decided they didn’t want to eat their slop, either.  With help from the rooster, the pigs go to the garden and grab some beans and chiles.  After cutting up the chiles, the pigs made some nachos.  After the farm animals smell all of these savory foods come together, they decide to have a fiesta!  The animals want to make enchiladas for the fiesta, so they go back to the garden.  But this time, all of their southwestern food is gone!  Then they see Mrs. Nuthatcher in her kitchen making tamales for the fair! The farm animals decide to cancel their party.  But, after the farmer and his wife leave for the fair, the rooster sneaks inside and finds a French cook book.  The rooster fixes crepes, white grapes, and champagne sauce!  And once again the rooster was pleased with his meal!

     The illustrations in this book are very good.  The colors are very vibrant.  They are outlined in black and stand out really well.  The pictures are done in watercolors.  I love how detailed the pictures are.  The illustrations have a great way of portraying what is happening in each scene.  He does a good job depicting the animal’s facial expressions and relaying how they feel throughout the story.  Throughout the book, there are parts where the animals get an ingredient that was not in the garden.  I like how he explains the way the animals are getting these foods by drawing the mouse at the bottom of the page.  The mouse is handing the animals food that he has stolen.

 

     This book would be great to use in teaching a lesson on diversity and how in different cultures people eat different types of food.  I would relate this to my students by asking them what types of foods they liked.  I would also do a poll on foods that they did not like.  For first and second grade, I would have the class write a few sentences about what they did not want to eat and what they would rather eat.  I could let them draw a picture that they liked from the story and write a sentence about that; this could also be used in kindergarten, except, I would only have them draw.  For kindergarten I would have some type of craft where they make a little rooster or chicken.  I think this book would work best for kindergarten to second grade.