What can you do with a paleta?

When the tinkly bell sounds in the barrio, children race to the paleta wagon for the cool sweet Popsicle-like treat. Posing the title question, the poet suggests playful, far-fetched, thoughtful, and practical ideas, concluding the very best thing to do with a paleta is to lick it, and slurp it, and sip it and munch it and gobble it all down. Acrylic illustrations portray stylized doll-like human figures in a barrio that simmers in hot shades of orange, red, and yellow. In contrast, the cool paleta colors seem especially enticing. An appealing introduction to a yummy aspect of Latino culture. Pair this with the author's earlier What Can You Do with a Rebozo? (2008) or with Yuyi Morales' Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (2003).--Perkins, Linda Copyright 2009 Booklist

A Mexican American girl waxes rhapsodic over the paletas (ice pops) that arrive in her barrio every summer. What seems like a narrow subject becomes larger with each page turn: the book is ultimately a portrait of a tight-knit community celebrating one of its traditions. The acrylics are rendered in warm, fruity colors. The bilingual edition nicely incorporates Spanish text on the pages. [Review covers these titles: What Can You Do with a Paleta?[c1] and What Can You Do with a Paleta? / ?Que puedes hacer con una paleta?.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

In any Latino barrio, the highlight of a summer afternoon filled with the sweet and savory smells of flowers and crispy tacos is the arrival of the paleta vendor with his deliciously cool fruit popsicles. Made in a variety of flavors and colors, the paleta can be the inspiration for fun and creativity with old and new friends. Purple tongues, blue mustaches, a palette of swirly, drippy artall are second to the real enjoyment of a paleta: "to/ lick it and slurp it / and sip it and munch it / and gobble it all down." Tafolla's English text sprinkles easily recognizable Spanish words throughout, creating a parallel to the Anglo neighborhood ice-cream truck in a very Latin setting. Morales's ethnically detailed acrylic paintings in earthen tones against primary colors help to identify the key Spanish words and augment the circular story pattern, in which the introductory verses repeat in the final pages. A simultaneous dual-language edition presents a parallel Spanish translation that accompanies the English text (ISBN: 978-1-58246-289-9). (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

"When the tinkly bell sounds in the barrio, children race to the paleta wagon for the cool sweet Popsicle-like treat. Posing the title question, the poet suggests playful, far-fetched, thoughtful, and practical ideas, concluding "the very best thing to do with a paleta is to lick it, and slurp it, and sip it and munch it and gobble it all down." Acrylic illustrations portray stylized doll-like human figures in a barrio that simmers in hot shades of orange, red, and yellow. In contrast, the cool paleta colors seem especially enticing. An appealing introduction to a yummy aspect of Latino culture. Pair this with the author's earlier What Can You Do with a Rebozo? (2008) or with Yuyi Morales' Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (2003)." Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.