BENITO’S SOPAIPILLAS/LAS SOPAIPILLAS DE BENITO

In her latest, Baca offers another tale about the appealing and not always sensible Benito. This time, as young Christina complains to her grandmother about summer heat, her grandmother tells her of a terrible drought in the days when her father Benito was just a boy, struggling alongside his mother to keep their farm going. After passing out while plowing under the blazing sun, Benito wakes to find a scarecrow has come to life and claims to know how to end the drought: by throwing balls of dough into the air to draw the rain and it works! When the balls of dough return to earth with the rain, Benito's mother fries them, thus creating sopaipillas—puffy cloud-like pillows of bread, “soup catchers.” Accardo's illustrations are full-page panels, expressive, colorful and old-fashioned, just like the story itself. Young readers may wonder why no one else seems to know this sure-fire cure for drought, but the very foolishness of it will likely charm them. Both English and Spanish versions move smoothly and quickly, and best of all, there’s a recipe for the treat at the end. (Picture book. 6-9)