Nacho's Nachos by Sandra Nickel and Olivier Dominguez
Did you know that nachos were literally invented by a guy called Nacho? Read this awesome story pieced together from contemporary news articles.
For an activity, I copied the recipe out of the back of the book to share with students and asked them to write their own nacho recipe with their favorite toppings on the back.
Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown, Illustrated by John Parra
I used the Frida Kahlo free printable page from Rachel Ignotofsky for this. You can find it and other beautiful downloads from Rachel here.
Funny Bones by Duncan Tonatiuh
Great to read around Día de Muertos. You can find a lot of papel picado coloring pages available for free online or get tissue paper have kids make their own. Or you might try having the kids make their own calaveras. (I haven't yet. Let me know how it goes!!)
Danza by Duncan Tonatiuh
Former Bluestem book!
Meals in Mexico from Bullfrog Books
This was great with all of my elementary ages. Even though it is written for our youngest kids, the older kids enjoyed learning about new food-- it was a lot more discussion than just reading. I also love that this book (and the others in the series) have a recipe in the back! Great to share. This one is for flan.
Frida Kahlo by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, Illustrated by Gee Fan Eng
I love this series. One of the main things I made sure to talk to students about when we read this title is to look at all the different ambulatory aids she uses throughout the book. We talked a bit about polio and long-term effects of illness. Truly some great conversations with every age.
There is a wonderful teacher's guide from the series website here. They also have coloring sheets and a word search here.
Vámanos a Oaxaca by Patty Rodriguez, et al
This is a great, bilingual series exploring Latin American cities and sharing landmarks from them. With younger kids, it's an introduction to the city and country. For my older students, it's a springboard for learning more about specific locations since they often was to do some research once we read the book.
For an activity for the younger ones, Crayola makes nice, simple country coloring sheets here.
For older students, have them research one landmark from the book. This can be extremely informal browsing up to actually sharing their research with others, whatever is appropriate for your group or the time you have.
Chichén Itzá by Sarag Green
Seven Wonders of the Modern World series
Explore Mexico: 12 Key Facts by Patricia Hutchinson
nonfiction series-- has many countries around the world
Aztec Empire by Lori Dittmer
Series-- young readers
Fiction Picture Books
Adios Oscar! by Peter Elwell
I read this with my younger students and we talked about migration and I used a map that I found from Scholastic that showed migration patterns of monarchs through the US to Mexico.
Nice bonus-- we do the Monarch Award here in IL, so it was nice to learn more about the butterflies!
Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J Gomez and Elisa Chavarri
Monarch 2022 Nominee!
This book was a lot of fun. We talked about how it could actually be set in any place where Spanish is spoken, so not necessarily Mexico at all. But it worked well for our school this year because we try to read as many of the Monarchs as possible. My all English speaking students really enjoyed this familiar story with new twists, new words, and new foods!
With a lot of Monarch books, I only have time to read the book and have kids complete what I've been calling a half-sheet. It's really hard for k-2 kids to remember all the Monarchs we read starting in August until we vote in February, so they fill out this little sheet for each book we read and return it to me. Then, before we vote, I return a little book to them that has all their ratings from the year. I also have them draw or write something on the back that will help them remember the story. You can find the document here.
Between Us and Abuela by Mitali Perkins, Illustrated by Sara Palacios
Monarch 2022 Nominee!
Again, this is not exactly set in Mexico-- it's half of the setting, but since this year we're traveling North America (not including the US), this is what worked for my students and I. We read it in the winter, near Las Posadas. Students liked learning about a new to them holiday and we discussed and predicted what problem-solving our protagonist was using.
For an activity, I used the half-sheets, as mentioned above. I also found a great resource in Cardinal Rule Press, who did a wonderful holiday gift box in 2021. It had great handouts for many winter holidays.
Spirit Child translated by John Bierhorst, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
The Aztec version of the Nativity story, translated to English (available in Spanish as well). Aztec-inspired illustrations.