What Can You Do with a Paleta / ¿Qué Puedes Hacer con una Paleta? Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. 2010 Winner)

This is one of the coolest children books that I have read in a long time! I really enjoy how the book is writing in both English and Spanish, stressing the importance of understanding all cultures. I was really intrigued to read the Spanish version of the story as it added to the plot. My favorite

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part was the dictionary at the end of the story that shows a picture and the word in both English and Spanish. It is a different way to tell a story which I really enjoyed!

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This was a very cute book. My favorite part was the illustrations which were captivating and colorful. This is a book that celebrates cultural diversity. This is a great book to use in a classroom as well as at home to introduce kids to a culture which they may not know much about: Mexican-American

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families. Although the greatest part about this book was that it is written in English and in Spanish too. This would be so ideal for bilingual classrooms!

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What Can You Do with a Paleta? is the very colorful story about the many different things you can with a Paleta. The book does not come out and define what a Paleta is specifically, but the reader can infer from the vibrant illustrations that Paleta is a fruity, ice pop enjoyed amongst the Latin

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community.

In the story, you see children enjoying the icy treat they buy from the Paleta man and his Paleta wagon. He pushes his wagon around the different barrios, or neighborhoods, on hot days and cools everyone down.

Students will be able to make inferences about what Paleta is and identify with the Latino children in the story. On very hot days in our neighborhoods, an ice cream man comes around ringing his bell, and cooling everyone down. Students will learn that kids around the world are just like them. They have their own traditions that are very similar to their own.

I love all the vivid and bright colors and all the silly things one can do with a Paleta. It can be used to make new friends, scare your brother, cool you down, and many more things. The author uses mostly English words with a sprinkling of Spanish to tell the story. We can learn from this story how another culture spends their hot days and connects with one another. Students will have fun learning about a different culture and its traditions.

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This is a very fun and easy read for children. Although I am not a native spanish-speaker, this book made it very simple to learn and read spanish words through recognition and context. The book is intended for a latin-american child or children who transition through english to spanish daily. In

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this book, we follow two characters, in which one character gives a tour of the barrio (neighborhood). In doing this, we learn simple spanish words and can enjoy the festivities and importance of community. The illustrations use bright colors which are complimentary to the hispanic tradition, as well as depicting the barrio setting, which many are familiar with but some may not know about. We learn all about how the paleta is a sweet, juicy popscicle treat which is the star of the barrio on a hot summers day. There are so many things to do with a paleta, and I didn't even know what it was before reading this book!

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We are introduced to a common frozen treat that is sold from a wagon in barrios, a paleta. Our narrator describes all of the creative ways that a paleta can be used, from making new friends, to painting with it, to licking and slurping it.

Summary: The book begins, "What would you do with a Paleta?" There is then a description of where you can find a paleta, where the roses bloom beautiful colors, where you can smell crispy tacos and warm buttery tortillas. It then goes into detail with all of the ideas one could do with a paleta,

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such as making tough decisions between flavors, making friends by sharing, creating a masterpiece with the colors of the paleta. The list continues, and the story ends just how it began by asking, "what can you do with a paleta?", and describing the roses, sound of the accordion, and aromatic smell of the food.
Personal Reaction: I found this book refreshing. It is not often that I hear Hispanic American children's literature. This story incorporated repetition as well as clues from the pictures. Although I did not know what paleta was in the beginning of the story, the pictures were so stunning and revealing it didn't take long. There were other words used in the story as well that were in spanish, but flowed nicely because of the way they were used and the pictures. It was not only a fun book, because who doesn't love ice cream, it gave insight into another culture, touched on sharing, and was a great example of how to show kindness to one another. There was a very personal feel to the story that was heartwarming.
Extension Ideas:
1. Teach the class a couple key phrases in Spanish, and continue using them throughout the duration of the school year.
2. Make homemade ice cream in the classroom!

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This book is wonderful and a great reminder of what is important in life. I was reminded to stop and notice the very small details of my life as well as the wonderful details in many different cultures.

This book was really cute and its main purpose was to help young readers learn about what a typical Spanish "barrio" or neighborhood is like. The book is bilingual and features many Spanish words and phrases. What I liked most about the book was the descriptiveness of the story. The setting was

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very believable and the way the author portrayed it with the Spanish words and illustrations made the story come to life. This book would not only help students who are learning about everyday Spanish lifestyles, but also ELL students who speak Spanish because half of the page is written in English while the other half is written in Spanish. This way, students can still read the English, but refer to the Spanish if they are having trouble understanding a word or phrase.

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Carmen Tafolla is a writer for both children and adult books. She is the author of more than twenty books and one of the most widely anthologized of Latina writers. This book introduces the Mexican ice cream treat, paleta. The text is rich in describing the various things a child can do with the

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paleta while eating it, from having to first choose a flavor and then watching it turn your tongue different colors to using it as a paint brush as it melts to cooling yourself off on a hot summer day. The setting of the story is the little girls Spanish neighborhood and the theme is to appreciate and love everything about your culture.

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This was read for the week 6 discussion post.
I was transported to the Mexican-American barrio in this book and could taste the flavors of the paletas as the little girl in the story explained all the myriad of ways one can enjoy and use a popsicle! The author includes many sensory details.

Two kids get paletas from the paleta cart and think of all the things they can do with them. They could draw on the ground, they could give themselves a mustache, but they decide the best thing to do is to eat them.

Fairly simple, but lovely colorful drawings. There are enough Spanish words to

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provide a sense of specificity but not so many that I, a person who does not know any Spanish, couldn’t easily read it. My niece was not terribly into it yet but we’re going to get paletas soon so hopefully that will change.

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