Primary (ages 6-9)

Material appropriate for primary age groups

Grandma’s Chocolate / El chocolate de abuelita

Abuela’s visits from Mexico are always full of excitement for young Sabrina. She can’t wait to see what’s in her grandmother’s yellow suitcase covered in stickers from all the places she has visited. Opening it is like opening a treasure chest, and this year is no different. With her grandmother’s help, Sabrina learns all about the cacao tree, which was first cultivated by Mexico’s Indigenous tribes. Today, seeds from the cacao tree give us chocolate, but years ago the seeds were so valuable they were used as money. This charming bilingual picture book that depicts a loving relationship between grandmother and granddaughter and shares the history and customs of the native peoples, Mayan and Aztec, of Mexico.

Way Out in the Desert

A counting book in rhyme presents various desert animals and their children, from a mother horned toad and her little toadie one to a mom tarantula and her little spiders ten. Numerals are hidden in each illustration.

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro

A packrat, carrying fruit from the giant saguaro, is chased by various desert animals and inadvertently helps spread the cactus’s seed. Includes information on saguaros.

Benito’s Sopaipillas/Las sopaipillas de Benito

As they prepare to make the traditional, pillowy bread called sopaipilla, Christina’s grandmother tells about the time her great-grandfather, aided by a scarecrow, brought an end to a drought and, in the process, helped make the first sopaipilla.

Chave’s Memories/Los recuerdos de Chave

Chave, a grown woman, recalls her childhood trips from her border home in Brownsville, TX, to her grandparents’ ranch in northern Mexico. Large, bright drawings show young Chave, her brother, and their cousins racing around the ranch, sliding down dirt hills, herding baby goats, riding wooden barrels, and listening to a ranch hand tell stories.

My Tata’s Guitar/La guitarra de mi tata

While sharing stories of their Mexican-American family’s past, a father gives his young son the guitar he received from his own father.