When Magaly learns that Abuela has made ropa vieja (old clothes!) for dinner, she tries to hide her clothes before her family eats them up. Magaly enjoys the yummy Cuban food her Abuela has been cooking since arriving from Havana, but when Magaly's sweater goes missing, she discovers that Abuela is making ropa vieja for dinner. Old clothes for dinner? Yuck! Magaly needs to hide the rest of her clothes before her family eats them up. Endnotes feature other imaginative names of food around the world, facts about Cuba, Spanish vocabulary, and two delicious recipes for ropa vieja and arroz con leche. AGES: 4 to 8 AUTHOR: Nathalie Alonso is a Cuban American journalist and writer from Queens, New York. In addition to writing books for children, she has contributed to a myriad of newspapers, magazines, and websites. True to her Cuban roots, Nathalie is a huge baseball fan and has worked for Major League Baseball as a translator, producer, and reporter since 2006. Natalia Rojas Castro is an illustrator based in Bogotá, Colombia, who works in various visual fields, including books, magazines, and advertising. She draws inspiration from her surroundings, observing passers-by in order to portray them with her style of seeing the world. When she is not drawing, she enjoys moments in the kitchen, preparing dessert recipes, and walking the streets of Bogotá. SELLING POINTS: . FUNNY: A laugh-out-loud, cleverly written, memorable story with a hilarious ending that kids will want to read over and over. . GLOBAL: Warm depiction of a family adjusting to an immigrant relative coming to live with them; this story about a multigenerational Cuban American family will resonate with families from many different backgrounds. . SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING: Portrays the universal and relatable childhood experience of misunderstanding something a grown-up says and imagining a wild explanation to make sense of it. . LANGUAGE LEARNING: Introduces Spanish vocabulary. . ENDNOTES AND RECIPES: Endnotes include information about Cuba, other creatively named foods from around the world, and recipes for ropa vieja and arroz con leche. . AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATION: Written by Cuban American author Nathalie Alonso and illustrated by Colombian artist Natalia Rojas Castro.
