Burro's Tortillas

Character & Overcoming Adversity

by Terri Fields, Sherry Rogers (Illustrator)

What do you get when you cross The Little Red Hen with a burro and his friends? Burro’s Tortillas! In this humorous Southwestern retelling of a childhood favorite, Burro finds it difficult to get any help from his friends as he diligently works to turn corn into tortillas. Young children will love the repetition; older children will enjoy the book’s many puns. In addition to its Southwestern “flavor,” the delightful story imparts an accurate picture of the traditional way that tortillas are made. A Spanish/English glossary and a simple recipe for making tortillas are included in the “For Creative Minds” section.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cultural, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

Published June 19, 2007

Reviews

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Spanish (or Southwestern) retelling of the classic Little Red Hen.

[Isabel B Sanchez]

This story is a Southwestern version of The Little Red Hen. The main character, Burro is a helpful donkey who wants to make tortillas from corn. He asks his animal friends to help him with every step harvesting the corn, grinding it, making the dough. None of them were interested in working and they all kept making excuses. When Burro tortillas were ready, everyone suddenly wanted to eat.
Burro decided not to share with his lazy friends. This books teaches grades 1st-2nd that hard work pays off. You can’t expect anything if you don’t help.

[Malinda Coker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Children’s Classic with a Cultural Twist
I’m sure that most people from The United States have heard of the book titled The Little Red Hen, but have you heard of Burros Tortillas? This fiction piece of children’s literature is a great read for your child and better yet, for teachers in their classrooms. This picture book written by Terri Fields and illustrated by Sherry Rogers depicts a donkey named Burro and the hard work that he does in order to make fresh, homemade tortillas. Burro is a very likable and hard-working character, and it shows throughout the entire book. This book shows how hard Burro works to get the end result and along the way, he asks his friends for help in the process of making the tortillas. The bobcat, coyote, and jackrabbit all refuse to help Burro in all of his hard work. Burro decides that he will do it all himself. By the end of the book, Burro has made delicious tortillas and all of his friends now want to have a part in eating them. The book shows that hard work pays off, and if you don’t participate in the hard work, then there will be no reward left. It also teaches the importance of friendship as well as friends helping one another succeed. Since the friends did not help Burro during the hard parts of making the tortillas, his friends did not get to eat them in the end. This is a classic storyline that involves Hispanic culture including the language and food in it. It is a great story that teaches a lesson about both hard work and culture. I highly recommend this book to children.

[Tricia Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

(copied from my book review blog: Patricia's Particularity)

One day a burro decides to make Tortillas out of some corn plants. He asks his friends for help to pick the corn but they decline. The burro is left to pick the corn by himself. Then he asks his friends if they can help him remove the kernels from the corn. Again, they all say no. And again the burro is left to do it alone. Then comes the time to ground the corn into flour; again his friends will not help and he has to make la masa alone while his friends sleep. The last step is to cook the tortillas, and again no one will help him.

After he finishes cooking all the tortillas he asks his friends if they would help him eat them all; they all say yes. However, the burro remembers that none of them had helped him at all and decides that he doesn't need their help to eat the tortillas.

The illustrations are very colorful, made up of reds, blues and greens. The writing style is very simple and uncomplicated; the sentences are not too long but not too short. The tone of this picture book is very deterministic. The burro doesn't give up in his quest to make tortillas, even without his friends' help. Even though he finds the work hard, he never gives up.

This picture book is well written, the illustrations are very attractive and the overall the theme is a wonderful message. One thing in particular that makes this book unique is bits of Spanish words are mixed into the sentences. Burro’s Tortillas is great book for all children.

[Colleen Roussel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Southwestern version of “The Little Red Hen”. I love so many things about this book. It is a new favorite of mine. Burro sees that the cornfield is full and ready for harvesting, so he asks his friends for help. His friends respond “Yo no” so Burro is left to do all of the work himself. Burro wants to use the freshly picked corn to make tortillas and it requires a lot of hard work to do so. The illustrations do a wonderful job taking the reader through the process of making tortillas with bold bright colors filled with details of the southwestern life. This book is a call to do the right thing and work hard, even if others do not. Burro puts in the long hours of hard work and enjoys the fruits of his labor without his friends. This is a great moral for children of all ages to learn. The book even includes a recipe to make the tortillas! Beautiful words in Spanish are filled throughout the story and include accurate details about agriculture. This is a great book to encourage diverse cultural learning in a creative way.

[Jessica Mowery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burro's Tortillas is a funny story about a burro who wants to make tortillas but none of his friends want to help him out. Burro asks very step of the way if his friends want to help but they come up with countless excuses not to. When the tortillas are finally done, his friends want to help eat them but Burro realizes that he did all the work and wants to enjoy them by himself. This book is very relatable to anyone that has done a project that no one else has helped out with. When I read this book, I was brought back to high school when I was the only one who worked on a project while everyone else sat back and relaxed. With small amounts of Spanish language mixed into the English text, children can learn what some words mean from a different language. This book is also great for ELL students who are learning English. Having a book that at least has some of their native language incorporated into the dialogue makes it a little less scary.

[Cassidy Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burro's Tortillas by Terri Fields is a traditional literature picture book published in 2007. The book is a version of the story The Little Red Hen. In the book, the burro is making tortillas and asks others to help him but each time they refuse to help. Then when the tortillas were ready everyone was wanting some to which the burro reminded them they didn't help him make them. This teaches a strong lesson about needing to put in the work if you want to receive the product. For children, this can mean participating in the class/group work or even just when playing and can be used to teach about teamwork.

[Nikki Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great picture book with a couple of lessons. Prior to this book I didn't know how to make a tortilla. So I found it pretty helpful and inspiring. Another lesson poor little burro found out is that he was stuck doing all the work with no help from his friends the bobcat, coyote, and jack rabbit. Each step of the way he asked for help and they found various reasons to refuse. In the end, all the friends were lined up ready to eat and little burro reminded them that they had no interest to take part and why should they get to eat them in the end. Little burro is correct.

[Haley Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional literature (2007)

This book retells the familiar story of The Red Hen. Except the character is this book is Burros who wants his friends to help him make tortillas. Just like the original story, he receives no help but once he is finished the other animals want some tortillas. In this classroom, this book can be used to teach students about Hispanic culture, but can also be used to teach an important life lesson. If want to receive a reward, you have to put in the effort. In life you cannot live off of others hard work.

[Olivia Aponte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Burro's Tortillas is the southwestern version of "The little red hen" in this story we follow Little Burro who is a donkey and notices the corn field is ready to harvest and decides to make tortillas. When he asks his friends for help they all say they are busy.At the end of the story his friends show up to eat the tortillas but Little Burro says that he does not need help eating them. It is a good story that shows the reader how tortillas are made.

[Taylor Oddo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burro's Tortillas should be read in every classroom. This book is a twist on the book," The Little Red Hen." It also has the same plot just some of the ideas have changed. It shows the importance of hard work paying off in the end. Burro wanted his friends to help him pick the corn and make fresh tortillas, but no one wanted to help. They stated they were to good to do that and some were taking naps, so they could not help. At the end all of his friends smelled the tortillas cooking and wanted to help eat them. Burro did not know how he was going to eat all of the tortillas, at first he was going to let them eat them, but then realized that they did not help with anything. Burro ate all of the tortillas by himself, which made the others look very upset. This book shows us, that if you want something, you need to help in the process. The illustrations are colorful and full of life. The illustrator makes the animal look like actual humans, which is funny to kids. It is nice to see some Spanish books, because there is not many out there for kids to read and learn about their culture. I would love to make my own tortillas.

[Bayne Marrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hispanic spin on the traditional tale of "The Little Red Hen". This would be a good book to read to a class as part of a unit on traditional literature and the many cultures that share our stories.
2007
Traditional Literature

[Kyler Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a take on the traditional book, and little red hen. It is really about the same story of Little Red Hen but it would be a good book for students that speak Spanish becuase there are many Spanish words and phrases in this book.

[Lea Fabrizzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burro's Tortillas is a SouthWestern story about a Burro wanting to make corn tortillas but his friends make fun of and are not supportive of his plan. Not only does this book teach young readers to never give up, it also gives a great tortilla recipe inside the story. -Lea Fabrizzi

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for a multi-cultural class. Twist on a well-known story! Lots of puns and plays on their animal character.

[Rick B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for learning basic Spanish words and Mexican culture.

[Eddie Garcia]

I thought it was a good read. It allows the reader to use different voices for each character.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute retelling of the "little Red Hen" story.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story!!!! It was so cute! I am going to make tortillas someday and read this one again.

[Sonyia Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delightful twist on the Little Red Hen.

[ACS Book-finder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burro’s Tortillas is a whimsical story about a “little burro” (a small donkey) who noticed that the corn in the fields had grown tall and was ready to harvest. His goal was to harvest the corn and make tortillas. The burro calls his friends, the bobcat, the coyote, and the jackrabbit to help him harvest the corn, but each had an excuse as to why they were not able to help. The burro harvests the corn himself, and once again calls his friends to help him in the next step of tortilla production, removing the kernels. They are again much too busy and give excuses in turn. The story follows the production of tortillas, the burro alone does each step as his friends are obviously too lazy to work. Finally the tortillas are baked and ready to eat; the smell of fresh tortillas wafting through the air. The burro’s friends show up without being called; they are ready to eat the tortillas. The burro responds to his friends by reminding them that they did not help on any of the steps to make the tortillas, now he did not need help in eating them. The burro enjoys a tasty meal of fresh baked tortillas while the bobcat, coyote, and jackrabbit look dejectedly on.

The story is educational on several levels. It follows the production of a famous Mexican food while exposing the readers to something about the culture of Mexico and Central America. The story line introduces Spanish words as well as picturesque Mexican settings. Finally, the author has built the
story around a moral to be learned: he who wants to eat, should also be willing to work.

After the story concludes, the reader finds a section of interactive games to further enhance the learning of Spanish words introduced in the story. It also includes a recipe for making tortillas at home.

Burro’s Tortillas is a fanciful book for children. It exposes children to another culture, a foreign language and a moral. It is a wonderful children’s book. (reviewed by S.Fincannon)

DISCLOSURE: A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for our honest review by Sylvan Dell Publishing. No compensation was received for this review. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer.

[Patricia (Patricia's Particularity) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terri Fields’ twist on The Little Red Hen is about teamwork and responsibility.

One day a burro decides to make Tortillas out of some corn plants. He asks his friends for help to pick the corn but they decline. The burro is left to pick the corn by himself. Then he asks his friends if they can help him remove the kernels from the corn. Again, they all say no. And again the burro is left to do it alone. Then comes the time to ground the corn into flour; again his friends will not help and he has to make la masa alone while his friends sleep. The last step is to cook the tortillas, and again no one will help him.

After he finishes cooking all the tortillas he asks his friends if they would help him eat them all; they all say yes. However, the burro remembers that none of them had helped him at all and decides that he doesn't need their help to eat the tortillas.

The illustrations are very colorful, made up of reds, blues and greens. The writing style is very simple and uncomplicated; the sentences are not too long but not too short. The tone of this picture book is very deterministic. The burro doesn't give up in his quest to make tortillas, even without his friends' help. Even though he finds the work hard, he never gives up.

This picture book is well written, the illustrations are very attractive and the overall the theme is a wonderful message. One thing in particular that makes this book unique is bits of Spanish words are mixed into the sentences. Burro’s Tortillas is great book for all children.

[Briere Lohnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Traditional Literature book, published in 2007, was a fun read and was very beneficial for children who have immigrated to the United States, or students who are learning Spanish. Overall it is a beneficial way to both introduce Spanish vocabulary as well as make reading and learning English culturally relevant. Additionally, with the wonderful illustrations, reading this book becomes even more enjoyable.

[Erika Arechiga · Rating 5 out of 5]

A burro decides he wants to make corn tortillas from scratch. He asks his friends for help throughout the tortilla-making process, but they always have some excuse. They are a lazy bunch. Burro was very determined and did not stop making tortillas just because nobody wanted to help. When burro finally finishes cooking the tortillas, he asks if anyone wants to help him eat them. Of course, they all are ready to eat them, but then Burro remembers that they did not help him make them. He says he no longer needs help eating them. The illustrations are colorful and bring the characters to life. The book had a wonderful theme. When someone works very hard for something they want, and others are not willing to help out, then it is hard for that person to share their success with them. I could use this as a read aloud, especially with ELL students because the book includes some Spanish words.

[Kristin Hamrock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some Spanish phrases in it, and was very similar to The Little Red Hen, but with different animals and different food. It is about a Burro who needs help in making his tortillas, but the only time he gets a response to help out is when it is time to eat! It teaches kids the importance of helping others if you want to be rewarded in the long run. It is good for kids who are interested in food and learning a new language.

[Rochelle Sondae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on The Little Red Hen, Burro makes some tortillas without the help of his friends. There is some Spanish mixed in with the story which only highlights my completely inadequate grasp of that language. The only words that sounded anywhere close to right coming from my mouth were "tortilla" and "burrito". Bear in mind, "burrito" isn't even in the text. I just kept saying it by accident every time the word "Burro" was on the page.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the Little Red Hen can bake bread, then Burro can make tortillas. I loved the Spanish words and phrases my child learned reading this book as well. While reading, I was taken back to when we would visit the tortilla factory at Disney's California Adventure and I could taste those mouth watering delights in my mouth. Maseca!

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Level: Primary

This book is on Tumblebooks.

The Burro wants to make tortillas, but none of his friends want to help with the work. They have no problem with wanting to eat them.

This book is a great for teaching students how to make tortillas. This book can be extended to having students bring in their own ethnic foods to share with the class.

[Tiffany]

I love how this book incorporates Spanish words in the English sentences without explaining the words. It really leaves it open for children to use context clues and make a guess. I also like that at the back of the book there are vocabulary activities for the children to learn the English and Spanish words.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grades: K-3
A spanish take on "The Little Red Hen."
The story is fused with Spanish words and a Spainsh flavor. This is good if the students are doing a unit on Mexico or if they are learning Spanish.
Themes: animal triats, helpfulness, friendship, kindness, laziness, hard work, and steps in a process, pun (hari and hare).