As Carmen Teresa celebrates New Year's Day with her Latin American family, a friend gives her a diary. She wonders what to write in it: Stories from our family and friends, suggests Mama, and in each of the following chapters, a different family member tells a story about childhood inspired by the memory of a favorite food. Finally, Carmen Teresa announces that she will use the diary to record the family's recipes, which follow the stories in cookbook format. At times, the connecting device of food feels contrived, as in the frequent comparisons between the tastes and textures of foods and characters' emotions; and the stories, which share a nearly identical voice despite different tellers, ocassionally veer into a nostalgia about childhood that may appeal more to adults than to middle-graders. Still, kids will respond to both the warmth and the anxiety of the family life described in the vivid writing, and in Delacre's nicely composed linocuts. The well-integrated cultural details and the idea of collecting family stories will also interest young readers. A glossary of Latin American terms and a selection of recipes are appended. (Reviewed May 1, 2000)

Instead of using her new journal to record the seven stories her Latin American relatives tell her, Carmen Teresa is more intrigued with the motif of food that runs throughout the tales. She collects seventeen recipes, which are included in the last quarter of the book. Despite an unchanging narrative voice and a somewhat confusing structure, the book, illustrated with striking linocuts, offers a taste of Latin culture. Glos.

Delacre (Arroz Con Leche) serves up a mixed menu here, combining a rather strained collection of seven tales featuring Latin American foods with recipes for the dishes mentioned. At a New Year's gathering of Carmen Teresa's extended family, a guest presents the girl with a blank book. When the child wonders what she should write in the volume, her mother suggests she """"collect stories from our family and friends."""" Relatives take turns relaying tales of their childhood in diverse locales such as Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina and Peru. Carmen Teresa's grandfather recalls fearing that he would not be allowed to partake of his mother's tortilla dish as punishment for lying to her. And in one of the most touching vignettes, her aunt describes a school field trip to a nursing home, where she met a blind woman who shared her forbidden sweets. In the end, Carmen Teresa decides to fill her new book with the recipes at the core of the storytellers' reminiscences. The recipes, most of which require significant adult participation, range from main dishes (chicken with rice, codfish stew) to desserts (nougat candy, coconut flan). Though Delacre's narrative shapes an appealing portrait of several generations from all over the globe, uniting in a close-knit family, the tales' organizing premise--food--grows repetitious and forced (e.g., """"We are helping Mam prepare the sofrito sauce for her arroz con pollo. This is the rice dish for which Mam is famous among all our friends and family""""). Despite a text spiced with exotic words and locales, youngsters may find this rather bland fare. Ages 9-up. (Mar.)

Gr 4-6-The New Year's celebration at Carmen Teresa's house is a time of warmth and family closeness. Aunts, uncles, and grandparents from both sides of the family come, as does Do-a Josefa, a friend, and Flor, the housekeeper. When Carmen Teresa receives a journal as a gift, the adults all share stories of their childhoods in Latin America for her to enter in it. Covering two generations and spanning Guatemala, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru, the seven stories they tell, enhanced by accomplished black-and-white linocuts, re-create time, place, and culture in readable prose. The only slightly weak link in an otherwise well-integrated chain of stories is the bridge to the recipe section, which follows Carmen Teresa's declaration that, since all the stories involved wonderful food, she intends to write down the recipes, rather than the tales themselves. The 20-page recipe section, with detailed ingredients lists and exemplary directions for creating dishes ranging from "Mam 's Arroz con Pollo" to desserts such as "Susana's Alfajores," includes clear instructions on getting adult help. Indeed, this is a necessity, as the dishes would be too difficult for most upper-elementary-school cooks. Whether the recipes are actually used or not may be a moot point, as the stories are worth sharing for their warmth and for what they say implicitly about cross-cultural similarities.-Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.