Grandma and Me at the Flea

Grandma and Me at the Flea

Specifics

APA Citation: Herrera, J. F., Lucio-Brock, A. D., Rohmer, H., & Cumpiano, I. (2002). Grandma and Me at the flea = Los meros meros remateros. San Francisco: Children's Book Press.

Meets EDU 333 Blog Requirement For: Picture Book, Bilingual, Diverse Protagonist

Lexile Level: Not available. 

Audience: This is a children's book that can be read in both Spanish and English. Students could read this to get an idea of Mexican culture and traditions. 

Summary

This book is switches off which language is first, Spanish or English. It is about a young boy who goes to the flea market, or remate, with his grandmother who is selling things there. Throughout the story readers can feel how busy the market is, with voices everywhere, and Juanito running around doing errands for his grandma and others along the way. He enjoys the flea market and the day he spends there. 

Evaluation

This book is filled with Mexican culture, from the language, the vocabulary words, the photographs, and what is going on throughout the story. The illustrations are colorful, have Spanish words on them, for example boxes labeled "Novellas" and "Ropita". This is one of the first books I've noticed the illustrations having Spanish words instead of English. 

The author, Juan Felipe Herrera, uses a lot of dialogue in the story which gives the readers a sense of urgency and how busy the flea market is. 

I would absolutely use this book in my classroom to talk about Mexican culture and traditions. Out of the book options I have seen thus far, this one is the most well done. It does not portray stereotypes, and the author is qualified to write it, as it is him writing from his own experiences. I think this story could have a powerful but positive impact on students, and realize that every family has their own traditions and although they might be different than yours, they are special to that person. 

Mini Lesson

For a mini lesson for this book, I would have the students simply share stories about traditions they have with their families that mean a lot to them, and why. Then, I would have them illustrate a picture to show this tradition, and assign them to give it to one of the family members that is a part of the tradition.

I would also consider offering extra credit to any student who went out on their own time to visit a flea market and then write up a quick one page summary about the experience: what they saw, what they heard, the kinds of people there, if they bought anything, etc.