Module 5 : Chatto's Kitchen

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SUMMARY

Chato's Kitchen is about two cats who decide to have mice over for dinner, and the mice willingly accept their invite not knowing they are the dinner feast. When their dog friend Chorizo comes over, the tides change and all the likely enemies enjoyed a Mexican dinner together.

APA REFERENCE
Soto, G., & Guevara, S. (1995). Chato's kitchen. New York: Putnam's.


IMPRESSIONS

This book was entertaining, but the illustrations were far better than the storyline. If this book is being read aloud, the pictures must be shown in order to get the full idea on what the author was trying to convey. All in all, it was a fun and entertaining read.

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW
[Review of the book Chato's Kitchen by Gary Soto]. Kirkus Review retrieved on 10/01/14 from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gary-soto/chatos-kitchen/.

Chato and Novio Boy, low-riding East Los Angeles homeboys of the feline variety, have dinner guests. The invitees, a family of five fat mice who just moved in next door, haven't an inkling that they are the intended main course. But when the mice bring along their friend Chorizo (a worldly mutt in a slouch beret) to share the grub, he thwarts the cats' connivings. This unlikely three- species chow-down is a sweet salute to Spanish cooking, with fajitas, frijoles, and quesadillas sharing center stage. Soto delivers a spare, clever text; the words skip like stones across water--``His tail began to swing to the rhythm. He felt the twinge of mambo in his hips.'' Guevara's swarming, luxuriant illustrations give the atmosphere palpability, with brushstrokes so fresh readers will want to stick their fingers in the paint to feel its texture. Menace hangs in the air; the artist mixes the sinisterness of R. Crumb with moments of Edvard Munch terror, yet it seems likely from the outset that the mice are more than capable of looking after themselves. Incidental touches--little devils and angels darting about, a bird wedding glimpsed through a window--are there for the sharp-eyed. Smart, with a nice edge. Soto's inspired finger-snapping prose has found an equally imaginative comrade in Guevara's colorful urban paintings. (Picture book. 4-8)

LIBRARY USES

Chato's Kitchen can be used to help aid in the understanding of dialect. It can also be paired with any Skippy Jon Jones too. Dialect and inflection is difficult for some students to understand, and reading this book aloud will be a humorous way for students to hear dialect.