cover image del Cacao Al Dolar

del Cacao Al Dolar

Arturo Curiel Ballesteros, Arturo Curiel Ballesteros, Felipe Davalos. Petra Ediciones, $13.95 (48pp) ISBN 978-968-6445-95-4

Grade 1-4-Warmly hued illustrations, ranging from small drawings of items such as metates (a grinding stone) and sea salt, to large representations of general stores and workers on farms and ranches, accompany a spare but informative text that introduces the subject of trade and commerce from the Mexican viewpoint. As dry as the topic might sound, this book is not; the easy-to-read font and charming artwork-which includes a pig looking directly out at the reader, a dark-eyed girl sipping her drink through a straw, indigenous men and women at the market-serve to draw readers in while explaining the importance of trade in everyone's daily lives. The time frame is the last 600 years, moving from the final decades of pre-Columbian Mexico, through the colonial period and into the present, taking readers from the usage of cocoa beans and salt as a kind of currency, through coinage and paper money, to credit cards. A natural choice for both public and school libraries serving elementary school children. Reviewed by Coop Renner, formerly from El Paso Independent School District, TX Cr\xEDticas, 10/15/2008