illustrated by Emma Shaw-Smith

Holt, 1995

    All around the world, people eat bread--from tortillas and baguettes to pitas, challah, and sliced white. Here is a book for very young children that celebrates bread––and everyone who works so hard to make it––from seed to supermarket. Readers will enjoy singing the refrain and will learn Spanish words, too!

     The rhythmic, bilingual text is complemented by rich, vibrant paintings, reminiscent of Guatemalan folk art, that depict a variety of peoples and breads.

     I adore books about "process." When I heard a Spanish song about bread performed on TV one night, I was inspired, and with my husband David, a poet, songwriter, and former Spanish teacher, wrote a story about bread, beginning with a grain of wheat. David wrote a new song, too, in English and Spanish, which is included in the book and sung on Reading Rainbow and our CD: This is the Day!

Says David--

     Anything that involves bread is evocative. Bread resonates.
And this book is beautifully illustrated––highly edible!

"Glowing with wheaten tones of gold, the folk-art style illustrations show the mother and son in their cozy Latin American farmhouse, as well as the cycle that brings bread to tables all over the world. Use as a multicultural, musical lead-in to Russell Hoban's Bread and Jam for Frances, followed by Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, for a story hour lineup guaranteed to make mouths water and tummies rumble." Booklist