Module 5: Chato's Kitchen by Gary Soto and Susan Guevara

Citation:

Soto, G. (1995). Chato’s Kitchen. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Summary:

A new family of mice moves into Chato’s (a cat) neighborhood. Chato sends a letter over to invite the mice family to dinner and the mice family accepts but asks if they can bring a friend. Chato and the mice family cook dinner. Chato and Novio Boy (Chato’s friend who is also a cat), are excited and prancing around talking about how they are going to eat the mice for dinner. When the mice family shows up they bring Chorizo (a dog) and scare the cats. Eventually they all end up eating dinner together.

My Opinion:
This is a wonderfully colorful book, not only is the text rich and fun the artwork is brilliant. There are many Spanish words scattered throughout the text. The pictures are so vivid and tell the story well. This book would make a wonderful read aloud. This would also be a great story for a student who is learning Spanish or one who is bilingual. (and I not just say this because my last name appears on the back cover in the illustrations)

Reviews:

Rochman, H. (1995, March,1). [Review of the book Chato’s Kitchen by Gary Soto]. Booklist Online. Retrieved by http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=632513

Chato thinks he’s the cool cat of East Los Angeles, and when a family of small mice moves next door to him in the barrio invites them over for dinner--to be his dinner. With his flashy pal Novio Boy, Chato cooks a delicious spread to go with the tasty morsels of mice. But when his guests arrive with their friend from the old neighborhood, the tables are turned: Sausage turns out to be a long, low-riding, skinny dog, and it’s the cats who quake in fear. Kids will get a lot of fun out of the sweet reversal and the comic storytelling. There’s a glossary of Spanish words, but it’s the characters and their talk that give the story its special flavor. Guevara’s very bright illustrations extend the situation comedy with zany details of magic realism. These animal characters are very human: the mouse teenager talks on her mobile phone; Chato’s friend mambos to his boom box. Best of all is the fun with scale, especially in a story where the small creatures win. (Reviewed Mar. 1, 1995)— Hazel Rochman

Turner, M. (1998, Novemver,3). [Review of the book Chato’s Kitchen by Gary Soto]. Publisher Weekly. Retrieved by http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childens/childrens-book-news/article/3196-children-s-book-reviews-.html

Guevara's (Chato's Kitchen) gentle acrylics temper 26 poems about war by Johnston (P Is for Piñata, reviewed above), whose imagery pulls no punches. Many of her poems are set squarely in the middle of combat, addressing victims (“Child on the other side of the world.../ I am calling”) or describing their surroundings. The poet sharply invokes the products of war: poverty (of a dog: “His ribs are the slats of a small ark”), violence (“ The body remains,/ crumpled in the street”) and grief. Guevara, painting on rough canvas, declines to show the most frightening scenes. Instead of the child on the other side of the world “in your little torn shirt,” she paints a small girl clinging to the back of a flying dove; instead of the crumpled body, she paints an angel. Quick brushstrokes and pastel shades soften the blow, and the images register as memories or dreams. The final poems pray for peace, but Johnston's sobering portraits make forgiveness unexpectedly difficult to imagine. Ages 10--up. (Dec.)

Uses for the library:
I would use this story to do a puppet show or a readers theater. This would be a fun story for the students to act out. I would also discuss the use of Spanish and the setting where this story takes place.