Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Carlos is working in the kitchen of the Mexican monastery when the cook enters the room in a panic. The Spanish Viceroy is on his way for a surprise visit and will arrive by noon, expecting dinner. What will the brothers feed this important ambassador to the king? Carlos tries to stay out of the way as lunch is hastily prepared, but his curiosity gets the best of him. His eagerness results in a moment of crisis, followed by what the brothers can only assume is a miracle. This story, inspired by the Mexican folk tradition, explains the origins of molé, the popular national dish that combines chocolate with turkey, spices, and nuts. Stefan Czernecki's amusing, angular illustrations capture the chaos in the kitchen as well as the folk tradition behind the tale.

"Subtle wisdom from an unconventional comic strip" -- Cover.

A retelling of the traditional Mexican tale explaining the origins of molâe, the savory chocolate sauce that is served over turkey or chicken.

Get to know Mole, the underground protector of the garden, in this fact-filled natural history adventure with vibrant collage artwork from the Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Some might think that Mole is a garden pest, but the truth is, he is a pest-preventer! Mole keeps worms and caterpillars and other crawly bugs from munching up all the growing veggie plants. And so at harvest time, there is a bounty of yummy goodies for the gardeners to enjoy—and Mole is chubby from all the eating he has done and ready to get cozy in his burrow for winter. Complete with a beautiful glossary identifying all of the different worms, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies included in the illustrations, this colorful gem from Caldecott Honoree Lois Ehlert is sure to delight nature lovers of all ages.

Extending the discussion of critical content analysis to the visual realm of picturebooks and graphic novels, this book provides a clear research methodology for understanding and analyzing visual imagery. Offering strategies for "reading" illustrations in global and multicultural literature, chapter authors explore and bring together critical theory and social semiotics while demonstrating how visual analysis can be used to uncover and analyze power, ideologies, inequity, and resistance in picturebooks and graphic novels. This volume covers a diverse range of texts and types of books and offers tools and procedures for interpreting visual images to enhance the understandings of researchers, teachers, and students as they engage with the visual culture that fills our world. These methods are significant not only to becoming a critical reader of literature but to also becoming a critical reader of visual images in everyday life.

"A wonderful memoir ... hands down the most charming book I read last year."--Margaret Renkl, The New York Times A country gardener explores his kinship with the natural world in this heartwarming, human book where "each page is filled with love, regret, humility and a sense of wonder (and oneness) with nature" (Washington Post). Marc Hamer is a humble gardener with the heart of a poet and the mind of a philosopher. In this peaceful memoir, he shares how, from boyhood into old age, he has lived with, and not against, nature. How his proximity to soil, sun, and shade has unleashed the greatest joys and profoundest sorrows of his life. And how our humanity is inextricably linked to the natural world, so we should have the good sense to leave it alone. In simple, striking sentences, Marc offers a kind of poetic field guide to living in nature. He shares memories of childhood homelessness, his own poetry, wisdom about plants, and vivid descriptions of the garden he works in daily. He tells of flowers that are planted, bloom, and then die, of trees that burst into color, and of moles who burrow below pristine lawns. As a hired gardener, he has hunted moles for decades, but now he decides to let them be. Like him, moles do their work in the soil. Allowing them to continue is allowing all life to flourish. Beautifully written, life-affirming, and meditative, How to Catch a Mole is a portrait of one man's unshakable bond with his natural surroundings, offering hope and inspiration for readers looking to reconnect to nature, to each other, and to life itself.

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