Salsa Stories

I read the short story, "New Year's Day." Musical rhythmic language mix delightfully with sensory details of food, music, and conversation to create an immersive storytelling experience. This is a celebration of life and all its joys--family, food, culture, and heritage. To read this is to fall in love with language and details, and to long for a Mama to cook you special dinners! I look forward to reading the rest of the stories in this book!

The day begins with a family party. All of Carmen's aunts, uncles, and cousins are over, helping to prepare the afternoon feast. But when a neighbor brings over a gift for Carmen, it quickly transitions into a family storytime. Each family member has a childhood story to tell, and each story includes lots and lots of food. The story ends with a compilation of the recipes from each story, plus the recipes from that day's party. Woodblock illustrations lend an old-time feel to the story, while illustrating key scenes from all of the stories. Recommended. Ages 8-10.

At a New Year's gathering of Carmen Teresa's extended family, Carmen is given a blank book. Unsure what to write about in her book, her mother suggests she collect the tales from their friends and family. Carmen's relatives take turns relaying stories of their childhood in places such as Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina and Peru. Throughout her relatives' stories, Carmen realizes that all of their stories have a connection to food; ultimately, Carmen decides to fill her new book with the recipes described in her friends and family's memories.

Wonderful for families, perhaps especially those who have Hispanic neighbors. Very quick read. Most of the recipes look delicious and doable, if you've got kids the right age and can spend some time bonding with them in the kitchen. Would also be good in a classroom.

I just can't get terribly excited by it, though. I think part of the problem was that the characters were too superficially drawn - I didn't hear different voices for all the different story-tellers, or even for the 'Main' character. It just wasn't engaging.

En casa de Carmen Teresa se reunen muchos familiares de distintos países de América Latina para celebrar el Año Nuevo. Doña Josefa le regala a Carmen Teresa un cuaderno en blanco y todos le sugieren que lo utilice para escribir los recuerdos de infancia de los que están ahí reunidos. Así comienza una original recopilación de historias a las que les acompañan las recetas de los platos favoritos de cada uno.

Charming. Probably even better if I had some Mexican, or Peruvian, or Brazilian... cultural connection. The recipes look good, but many seem like a lot of work.

At a family and friends New Year’s Day party, Carmen Teresa receives a blank book as a gift from a family friend. All the friends and relatives at the party tell her to fill it with stories, and each adult tells a story from their youth in Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Argentina. Latin American recipes of foods mentioned in the stories are included.