Plátanos Are Love
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A delicious picture book about the ways plantains shape Latinx culture, community, and family, told through a young girl’s experiences in the kitchen with her abuela.
Abuela says, “plátanos are love.”
I thought they were food.
But Abuela says they feed us in more ways than one.
With every pop of the tostones, mash of the mangú, and sizzle of the maduros, a little girl learns that plátanos are her history, they are her culture, and—most importantly—they are love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cooking plantains with Abuela, young Esme grows to appreciate her family lineage in this intergenerationally focused first-person tale, a double author and illustrator debut that incorporates English and Spanish throughout. Shopping at the market, Esme learns from Abuela that plátanos are more than just food: "They feed us in/ more ways than one." Finding that "our ancestors picked plátanos de los árboles," Esme imagines she is "plucking them from high up in the trees,/ like mi familia from long ago." And Esme transcribes Abuela's recipes in a notebook while watching her grandmother cook various dishes with the ingredient, learning that their forbears weren't allowed to read, write, or draw. Rahman's digital illustrations use bright, warm colors for contemporary spreads and desaturated greens and browns to delineate scenes occurring in the past, contributing to a thoughtful story of legacy. A glossary and plátanos recipes conclude. Characters cue as Afro-Latinx. Ages 4–8.
