Mango, Abuela, and Me
Written by Meg Medina, Illustrated by Angela Dominguez

Publisher’s Summary:
Mia’s Abuela has left her sunny house with parrots and palm trees to live with Mia and her parents in the city. The night she arrives, Mia tries to share her favorite book with Abuela before they go to sleep and discovers that Abuela can’t read the words inside. So while they cook, Mia helps Abuela learn English (“Dough. Masa“), and Mia learns some Spanish too, but it’s still hard for Abuela to learn the words she needs to tell Mia all her stories. Then Mia sees a parrot in the pet-shop window and has the perfecto idea for how to help them all communicate a little better. An endearing tale from an award-winning duo that speaks loud and clear about learning new things and the love that bonds family members.

Primary Source Pairing:
For this pairing, use the book as the primary source. Invite students to analyze and compare two, two-page spreads from the book. Pages 3-4 show Abuela’s first night with Mia’s family. Pages 27-28 show Mia and Abuela many nights later after Mango has joined their lives. In the analysis and comparison of these two, two-page spreads focus on character development and encourage students to cite textual and visual evidence.

Questions for Discussion:

Ask these questions of each two-page spread:

• Who are the characters?
• What do you notice about the characters?
• What do the characters’ expressions tell us about how they are feeling?
• What else do you observe?

Ask these questions when comparing the two, two-page spreads:

• What differences do you see in the two images?
• How have the characters changed from the beginning of the story?
• Why have the characters changed?
• Make a prediction about what will happen next after the story is over.
• What other comparisons can you make between the two page spreads?

Credits:
Book Cover and Summary: Follett
Pages 3-4 and 27-28 from Mango, Abuela, and Me

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