Title: Yum! iMmMm! iQue Rico! Americas' Sproutings
Author: Pat Mora
Illustrator: Rafael Lopez
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level: 5.3
Concepts: natural resources, consumers, producers, interdependence
Review: Already beginning in Kindergarten, content standards across the nation include economics, and the topic of natural resources is usually one of the first that students learn. What better way to introduce children to natural resources than this delightful book, with its interesting discussions, vivid illustrations, multicultural characters, and illuminating facts. The reader learns how chocolate is made, how to harvest pecans, the importance of potatoes as an international food source, the reason why tomatoes are considered a vegetable, where papayas come from, and why the United States is the world’s largest consumer of vanilla. While older children may be more drawn to the fact-filled backgrounds of these food items, readers of all ages will appreciate the accompanying haiku poetry. At first glance this book appears to be about food, but lurking within are valuable economics lessons about natural resources, consumers, producers, and international trade.
Review by: Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children