Sunflowers/Girasoles

Young Adult Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. Bilingual Edition translated from the Spanish by Gabriela Baeza Ventura. Illustrated by Alisha Ann Guadalupe Gambino. Seven-year-old Mirasol tells about planting a garden with her grandfather and shares those moments with others in her neighborhood, seed by seed: squash, onions, carrots, cabbage, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, chili peppers, and sunflowers! Her love for these flowers spreads across town with each new bloom and allows her to find both independence and pride in her skills and newfound knowledge while she teaches friends at school about sunflowers and gardening. Although the paintings favor adult faces and tend to age Marisol, the warmth and richness of the palette highlights expressions of loving friends and family in this child's world, and her impatience until the young plants finally appear. "The warmth and richness of the palette highlights expressions of loving friends and family in this child's world, and her impatience until the young plants finally appear"—Library Journal.