Carlos and the Squash Plant / Carlos y la planta de calabaza

by Jan Romero Stevens, Jeanne Arnold (Illustrator)

Set in northern New Mexico, young Carlos refuses to take a bath after his farm work each day, until a plant sprouts in his ear.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens, Family, Plants, Spanish Literature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ashley Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text to Text

This is a really great multi cultural book! I had a hard time trying to figure out what connection I wanted to make with this story. I chose text to text because this book reminds me a lot of the plot in the story Pinocchio. In this story, the little boy is very mischievous and does not listen to his mother. Therefore, a squash plant grows from his ear. The story of Pinocchio is similar in which he was just as well a mischievous little boy who grew a long nose from telling lies. In both stories, each little boy learns a valuable lesson and has to use problem solving skills to realize their mistakes. The author clearly sends a message to children about making positive choices. The pictures are nice and the book has Spanish words inside. Awesome.

[Eliot Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long and entertaining read, this bilingual book, features text in both English and Spanish, and includes a recipe for “calabacitas” (a spicy vegetable dish made with squash, corn, and chiles) at the end. A boy named Carlos lives and works on a farm in New Mexico, but hates taking baths. After he disregards his mother’s warnings, and lies about taking a bath, he starts to grow a squash plant in one ear! Like Pinocchio, the more Carlos lies about bathing, the more the squash plant in his ear grows. Once a huge vine of squash piles on top of his head, Carlos finally realizes that he really should take a bath, and the more he scrubs, the more the plant disappears.

[Krileshia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story!

[Mayra Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I realized that this would be a great selection for young readers to learn about harvesting as well as being responsible and caring for plants.

[Amanda Schwind · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about obeying your parents

[Zadie]

It was a sweet story, good to read to kids ages 6-8. It had translatoins for Spanish at the bottom of every page, which I like, and has a repice for how to make a Spanish dish in the back.

[Emily Evers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a morality tale in which Carlos learns never to disobey his mother again. Carlos helps out by working in his family's backyard garden in northern New Mexico. His favorite dish that his mother makes him is called calabacitas, which includes corn, squash, cheese, and green chiles. Carlos is eager to help his family in the garden, but hates having to take a bath and clean his ears after the long days in the dirt. His mother warns him that if he does not wash his ears, a squash plant will grow in them, but he does not believe her and ignores her warning. He lies to her each night, claiming he has taken his bath and washed his ears, when really he is only wiping his face with a washcloth. As a result, the squash plant begins to grow from out of his ear, and it isn't until he is scared at how large the plant has grown, and his hat used to hiding the plant blows away in the wind, that he finally takes a bath.

At first I struggled to make a connection with this book, because I was not a kid who liked to be out in the dirt and I liked being clean. However, I did connect to Carlos's feelings of fear (present in the illustrations, but not in the text itself) after lying to his parents, as the plant continued to grow from his ear. As children, we tell little lies that seem to spiral out of control in our heads, and we don't feel better until we have pleased our parents in some way, or come clean by telling them what we have done. For Carlos, it was by finally taking a bath and washing his ears. I really enjoyed the last sentence, in which the reader can infer that Mamá and Papá knew about Carlos's little lies about bathing, and wanted him to come clean about it on his own: "'You are a good boy, and for you, I have cooked your favorite dish: calabacitas,' said his mother, and as she put the steaming plate down in front of him, she winked at Papá, who pretended not to notice.".

This is a bilingual text, written in both English and Spanish. What I found interesting was the choice of font. The English font was clear to read and was bolded, but the font that was chosen for the Spanish was somewhat harder to read, the letters were not bolded, and the text was italicized, which I think makes it harder for young readers to access. Spanish words and phrases are used in the English writing, with one pronunciation guide, but it is only for the word calabacitas.

While it is nice that this story is about Carlos enjoying time in his family garden, there is one thing that bothers me, which is the fact that it is hard to find stories about latino families without farming or food as one of the central themes. As a teacher in a bilingual school, it is great to hear my students excited when they can make a connection to something one of the characters eats in a book that they eat in their homes, but those are usually the connections I hear from latino students and not many others. This is why I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5.

[Hayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantaron los dibujos y una historia que ninguna perosna se hubiera podido imaginar

[Angel Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Carlos is a mischievous boy that hates to take baths. His mother warns him that pretty soon a plant will grow out of his eat is he does not take a bath. Not believing it, one day he wakes up to find a squash plant coming out of his ear. The plant does not stop growing until he finally takes a bath.
This book is fabulous. It was one of my favorite books growing up. The excitement of the plant growing keep the readers engaged throughout the entire book. I have read this book to third graders and they enjoy every page. The book is written in Spanish and English which makes it a great book to have on our bookshelf.
Literature Terms: The author has an extraordinary plot. The sequences of events are easy to follow and lead up to resolving the conflict. The author leaves the audience thinking about what Carlos is going to do with the plant growing out of his ear.
Response: This book reflects my life and lifestyle. The illustrations reflect my family. I have read this book in multiple lessons and every time the children and captivated by this character.
Activity: One activity possible with the plot of this story is creating a story boxes. Children can recreate the plot on boxes and create a readers theatre in English or Spanish.

[Zeyana]

it was a vear good book i read and i am going to read it a gin and i will read it to my mom and dad sow i can sow them how can i read and how good i can read. THE END

[Jesicca Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carlos is the main character in this story. He lives in northern New Mexico. The plot involves Carlos refusing to take a bath after tending to his farm duties every day. Well, at least until a plant sprouts into his ear. Stevens, the author, uses this plot to convey this boy’s cultural doings/ family tradition of working on the farm, as well as adding some humor in it as well to make reading more enjoyable for the reader. This is related to my cultural topic because it describes one of the many different cultures of “family.” The genre of the story is juvenile fiction. The story is accurate and clear in terms of developing the setting, the characters, and the plot. This story does not include negative stereotypes about other peoples’ culture. The author does herself as a part of the group that is being represented throughout the story.

[Becca Jasman]

Publication Date: 1995

Genre: International

Awards won:

Themes: telling the truth, farming, Latino culture

Annotation: This book is written in both English and Spanish. The top half of the page is English, and the bottom is Spanish. It is about a boy that gets dirty working in the garden. His mother tells him to wash behind his ears or a squash plant will grow. As the book goes on, the boy wears bigger hats to hide the fact that he has not been cleaning behind his ears, and has a squash plant growing out one ear. In the end, he does take a bath, and the squash plant goes away.

Ways to use the book with children: ESL, Latin heritage celebrations

[Wilma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good and interesting multicultural book.It is a bilingual book written in spanish and english.It dealt with a subject that most kids can identify with-bathing. This particular child did not bathe and as a result since he worked in the garden had a plant growing out of his ear. This book gives us insight into the culture, history, food and people of the Southwest. Many activities can be develop.

[Katy Houseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of humor and I see students really enjoying it. I like that this book includes words in Spanish and includes how to pronounce it along with the definition worked right into the story. I can see myself reading this book to my class and having my Spanish speaking students help me pronounce and explain what the Spanish words mean. They would feel so proud to introduce a word to their classmates.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of reminded me of Mrs Piggle-Wiggle, though I could not figure out why the boy let the plant keep growing in his ear, that seemed extra strange. Honestly, isn't the fact that you are growing a plant out of your ear enough to shock a kid into taking a bath? Either that or he'd think it was cooler then he did and try to see how far he could grow it.

[Christie Bogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book to enjoy with my daughter in hopes that, finally, she would let me teach her some Spanish. The stories are fantastic and fun. The bilingual text is so lovely to have and the illustrations are beautiful.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a playful boom with a lesson to learn. The illustrations are influenced by Rivera murals and are beautiful! My son enjoys books about gardening, and as an added bonus, he always washed behind his ears. I like that I can also learn some Spanish as each page is bilingual.

[Brittany N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was cute. It contained both English and Spanish and wonderful pictures. It can be used to talk about bathing as well as Spanish culture. I see many lessons coming from this book.

[Lin Lin]

Such an interesting bilingual book to share with a boy who might delay taking baths at night.