Tiny Tortilla
Written by Arlene Williams
Illustrated by G. Brian
Karas
Dutton Children’s Books,
2005
32 pages
Multicultural – Mexican
Juan Carlos has been working in the
garden all morning, and he is so hungry.
All he can think about is eating a delicious tortilla made by the old
woman in the plaza. He is not quite
finished working, but he sneaks down to the plaza to buy a tortilla. Sadly, all of the tortillas are gone, and
this makes Juan Carlos very upset.
Thankfully, the old woman has a small ball of some special dough for occasions
such as this. She is too tired to make
the tortilla, but she shows him how to pat it flat. She tells Juan Carlos not to take a bite out
of the tortilla until it is completely ready.
She instructs him to pat it three more times after he thinks it is
ready, and then see what happens. Will
Juan Carlos follow the old woman’s instructions? What will happen to the tortilla after three
more pats? Read Tiny Tortilla by
Arlene Williams to find out!
G. Brian Karas did a wonderful job
illustrating this book. I could not find
the artistic medium that he used for this book, but I did find his favorite
medium to use is pencil. I assume that
is what he used to draw these illustrations, and it appears that he used
watercolors to add color to them. He
uses both singles and doublespreads to display his artwork in this book. These illustrations are very fitting for the
tone that is set with the text, and they are very appealing to children, the
audience this book is intended for. I
really enjoyed Karas’s artwork in this book.
This book could be used in
classrooms ranging from second through fourth grade. There are quite a few Spanish words
interspersed throughout the book, so it could be used to teach simple Spanish
vocabulary. It could also be used as a
character education lesson to teach patience – good things come to those who
wait. Juan Carlos had to practice
patience and self-control to keep from eating the tortilla until it was finally
ready. Since he waited, he got more than
he ever expected. This book could also
be used when discussing the weather and landscape in Mexico. There are many descriptions of the weather
and landscape throughout the book, making it a good choice for this use. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think
it would be a great addition to any classroom.
