In My Family / En mi familia

Summary: This book is about the author’s Mexican cultural childhood and what she remembers about some of the traditions from her Mexican American Family. She mentions several key memories from her culture, including fiestas, holidays, food, family traditions, legends, and even medical

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cures.

Personal Reaction: I enjoyed this book, it was very interesting. It’s always interesting to see what other cultures do for certain occasions, or what part of other cultures have been adapted to out, For instance, the Easter eggs. They hollow them out and fill them with confetti, while Americans boil them and dip them in dye.

Classroom Extension:
1) The Easter egg activity would be a really fun must to do in the classroom. The children would love it!
2) Another fun thing to do for Cinco De Mayo would be to have a little fiesta; It would be a great activity to help the class become familiar with the Mexican culture.

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a great book to introduce different customs and traditions in the spanish culture

I love how in every page it describes each event and how it is culturally done in the Spanish culture. Also, good idea to have Spanish writing so even those who can't read in English or understand english can know what the book is about.

This book is an awesome way to compare and contrast Mexican culture with American culture. The author/illustrator paints portraits reflecting memories from when she was a child. The pictures tell of various holidays or customs that were celebrated in her family. Its a culturally rich book that is

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written in two languages on each page. I would love to use this in a cultural study, an author/illustrator study and also for a way for students to reflect on their own family's traditions and practices.

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The author describes, in bilingual text and illustrations, her experiences growing up in an Hispanic community in Texas.

In this book the author who is also the artist tells about her life as a child. She grew up in Kingsville, Texas which is near the border of Mexico.

Great for a bilingual student, cultural study, and it's good because it is written in both spanish and english and can help introduce a student to a different language.

Great story about family and friendship

Genre: Realistic Fiction/
Review: This is a good example of realistic fiction because they are real Hispanic traditions and customs that happens in hispanic families, but also that the author can relate to.
Media: Watercolor, pencil

The storytelling style is warm and personal. The vibrant, colorful paintings contain many details of each scene and event, including many of the author's family members. In My Family / En mi familia captures the camaraderie of the Mexican-American community and the closeness of the extended family.

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An excellent read-aloud for K-6.

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Great for a bilingual student, cultural study, it is also written in both English and Spanish. It would be great to use with my ESL students and other students as well because it introduces a new language to students.

Good for helping kids learn Spanish or about Spanish culture.

This is a book about a Mexican family and the traditions they have. There are many Spanish words throughout the book. The book depicts the many aspects of family in Latin culture. It includes many scenes of family gatherings. It also involves Latino traditions such as “cleansings”. It has

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wonderfully colorful illustrations.

I really like this book. It is a great way to introduce students to a different culture, or a great book to have in a classroom for Latino children. The pictures are also great.

1.) This would be a great book to introduce a unit on Latino culture.

2.) Have children draw a picture of a gathering of their family.

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This book takes you inside of Mexican American culture. Through the story you learn different aspects of what it is like to be an Mexican America. There are different traditions that take place such as the women in the family would all gather around an make nopalitos and Empenadas, which are

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different foods that are apart of the culture. Carmen Lomas Garza truly gives you a taste of the culture that she grew up in. This is a great way for teachers to incorporate this culture in the classroom. The book is not only composed of such beautiful illustrations that reflect the text but on one page the text is in Spanish and then on the next page it is translated in English. If a teacher has students who are Mexican American this book educates the teacher and allows there to be an understanding of the culture for the teacher to connect with that student. Amazing book for the classroom!

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This story takes you through the different stories that a young girl heard from her mother and experienced while growing up in a Mexican culture. This story could be relateable for students who are from the same or similar backgrounds. It could also be a great way to show children a different type

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of culture and how different cultures tell stories and what experiences they have. The artwork in this book are colorful and are painted by the author. They all depict a different part of her life which help bring the story to life.

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The author talks about her rich Mexican Culture. She is proud of who she is and where she comes from. She wants the reader to embrace who they are, as there is no point in trying to be something they are not. As well as to make society realize that they too need to be tolerant of others who are

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different than themselves, as they may never know or be aware of what kinds of struggles they are already dealing with. A great book I can personally relate to.

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This exemplifies the closeness of family within the Mexican heritage.

I did not like this book for a couple reasons. The writing didn’t seem to flow and sounded irregular and choppy. This seemed to occur when the young boy was describing what he saw. For example, he says, “Those are fire ants. They can really sting.” The sentence isn’t very descriptive and

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seems to be rather flat and to the point. I also think that the language was unclear because there was a use of Spanish words without any translation given right away. The Spanish word nopalitos for example, was used in the story, but the reader was not notified until later that it mean cactus pads in English. This can be confusing for the reader, especially if Spanish isn’t their first language. Although there was a picture of the cactus pads on that same page, a child would’ve had to guess what they were. The plot of the story seemed to be disconnected, almost as if there were separate stories told throughout the story. For example, there are Spanish words written in bold like Enchiladas, and then a story is told about that word. It seemed hard to follow and wasn’t very suspenseful. The one reason I did like this story was because of the pictures. The colors of the clothing and foods were bright and vibrant which made the story attractive. This story forces the readers to think of their own culture and family traditions and relate them to the character in the story. The big idea of the book was for a young boy to explain his culture to the reader through the use of storytelling about his family’s traditions.

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The author describes his experience in bilingual text within a growing Hispanic community in Texas

Carmen takes family moments and expresses how beautiful traditional Mexican American community really is from her viewpoint.

The book does not stay in one story line rather it shows various moments of the authors life. Th book is written in both English and Spanish so an opportunity to make this a teaching tool is definitely possible.

Carmen Lomas Garza takes us to her hometown of Kingsville, Texas, and through vibrant paintings and personal stories, Carmen brings to life loving memories of growing up in a traditional Mexican American community: eating empanadas, witnessing the blessing on her cousin’s wedding day, and dancing

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to the conjunto band at the neighborhood restaurant. Each page tells a little bit about the author's family customs while incorporating bilingual text and integrating Spanish vocabulary into the English text as well. Librarians and teachers can have middle school students read this book and incorporate a lesson about compare and contrast by discussing the differences between their own cultures and the Latino culture, especially the differences in their families and their traditions.

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