Chato's Kitchen

Chato #1

by Susan Guevara, Gary Soto (Illustrator)

Chato, the coolest cat in East L.A., and his buddy, Novio Boy, prepare to serve up a special housewarming party for their new neighbors, a family of mice, in which their guests are also the main course, but the mice bring along their own guest, Chorizo, the toughest dog in the barrio.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 1995

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chato's Kitchen / Gary Soto / 1997
Genre: fiction
Format: picture book
Plot Summary: To get the "ratoncitos," little mice who have moved into the barrio, to come to his house, Chato the cat prepares all kinds of good food: fajitas, frijoles, salsa, enchiladas, and more. But he is not prepared for the unexpected guest who accompanies the mice.

Considerations: no red flags
Review Citation: Book List, March 1995

"Chato invites the new neighbor mice for dinner--to be his dinner. He cooks a delicious spread to go with the tasty morsels of mice. But when his guests arrive with their friend from the old neighborhood, the tables are turned: Sausage turns out to be a long, low-riding, skinny dog, and it's the cats who quake in fear. Kids will get a lot of fun out of the sweet reversal and the comic storytelling. There's a glossary of Spanish words, but it's the characters and their talk that give the story its special flavor."

Selection Source: Pura Belpre Award Winner
Recommended age: 4-8

[Charles Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Chato's Kitchen" by Gary Soto would be a great way to introduce a Latin-American or an Hispanic unit. Combining Spanish and English, "Chato's Kitchen" is a trickster tale about a cat attempting to fool a family of mice by inviting them to dinner. Though the book includes animal characters, it utilizes a good number of polite Spanish phrases and introduces readers to a number of delicious Latin dishes. This book would be a great way to introduce these new phrases and vocabulary, because the book includes a Spanish to English glossary and a number of great examples of vocabulary developed through context clues. Furthermore, "Chato's Kitchen" easily lends itself to teaching prediction skills through a DRTA and could the pictures could easily be used during an emotions or feelings lesson plan.

[Sheila Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato’s Kitchen by Gary Soto is illustrated by Susan Guevara with vibrant, expressive, and imaginative paintings. Soto’s text incorporates many Spanish words and phrases and includes a glossary plus the menu for the meal shared by two cats, a family of mice and one friendly dog. This is an exuberant tale that promises – after some worrisome scenes – fun and camaraderie for the traditionally antagonistic animals. Although a picture book, Chato’s Kitchen can be enjoyed by children from kindergarten through fifth grade.

[Sophia Paschal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you like fun fiction books? “Chato’s Kitchen” has won the Pura Belpre Award and the Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award along with a few others. The protagonist of this book is a cat named Chato. Chato invited some mice over for dinner, planning to eat them. However, the mice, the antagonists, outsmart Chato and they sit down for a real meal and become friends. On pages 9-10, the illustration shows Chato inviting the mice over for dinner. Chato thinks he has a clever plan until the spread on pages 23-24 shows the mice bringing a friend, a dog, to the dinner. What was meant to cause harm to the mice turned into a lifelong friendship. This was an interesting read, you should check it out.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is fine. But the illustrations are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

1996 Pura Belpré Medal Winner (for illustration)

In Chato's Kitchen, the cat Chato and his friend Novio Boy invite some mice over for dinner, intending, of course, to eat the mice. The mice surprise them, however, by bringing their friend Chorizo, who turns out to be a big dog. No mice on the menu tonight.

This book has a lot going for it in terms of sharing Mexican culture. It's set in an East-L.A. barrio, with animals filling in for people. The author incorporates a lot of Spanish terms and information about Mexican dishes that Chato is making.

What I didn't really like about the book was the illustrations. While the paintings are colorful and detailed and have a lot going on, I didn't care for the way Chato and Novio Boy were portrayed. One other reviewer suggested that the book stereotypes Mexicans--I didn't really think that the author was trying to make any statements about all Mexicans. What I wondered about was how Chato and Novio Boy dressed. Does the average Latino person in East L.A. dress like they do (or did they at least in 1995 when this book was published)? In Western Washington where I live, people who dress in backwards hats, bandanas, tank tops, and "wife beaters" are usually gang members or gang member wannabes.

So, the thought of children reading this story and seeing Chato and Novio Boy as cool disturbed me a bit. In fact, I think it was a little awkward in general seeing villains portrayed as cool and getting so into the meal they were making when they were going to eat the mice, although it was satisfying when the mice out-smarted them.

I'm not really sure if my impression of Chato and Novio Boy as gang members is fair, or just a regional prejudice. Either way, it sounds like kids tend to enjoy the story, and it's probably not something that they would pick up on.

[Jordyn Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato's Kitchen is a beautifully illustrated children's book that explains the malicious intentions of a cat named Chato. Chato meets the new neighbors, a family of 5 mice, and invites them over for dinner. Chato's dinner did not go as he planned and the mice made it out alive. This book incorporated Spanish language and flowed smoothly. I really enjoyed reading this children's book.

[Kandace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato’s Kitchen is one in a series of Gary Soto’s children picture books. Chato is a low riding home cat from the barrio. Along with his friend Novio Boy, they cook up a grand feast to welcome the new neighbors. The family of mice thinks they’re going to dine at Chato’s, while he has ulterior motives. Chato’s plan is thwarted when the mice show up riding on the back of their friend Chorizo, a friendly dachshund.

Life in the barrio of East Los Angeles is vividly captured through the depiction of Chato and his friends. Soto quickly engages the reader’s attention with detailed characterization that is augmented by the award winning illustrations of Susan Guevara. The rich colors and sweeping strokes of Guevara accurately portray life in the Hispanic neighborhood.

My students, made up of inner city Mexican Americans, really love the stories of Chato. Whether they identify with the cultural references or the humorous text written by Soto, young children are deeply absorbed by the story. The students are able to teach me about their culture by pointing out authentic ethnic story elements. Chato portrays a relatable character in American literature that encourages children to rejoice and embrace their own heritage and traditions.

[Q_Ayana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chato’s Kitchen is a colorful tale about a trickster cat, Chato, who attempts to welcome the new neighbors (a mice family) by inviting them to dinner…to eat them. They inform him that they are going to bring a friend along with them, who ends up being a dog. In the end, the characters, most importantly Chato, realizes that making friends is better than tricking them. The Latino/a culture is shared consistently through humor and language. The illustrations are vivid, utilizing the full spectrum of the colors of the rainbow. The details within the images provide further understanding and are enjoyable to survey even after reading the text. Additionally, several Spanish words are used and explained in the context of the story. There is a Spanish glossary included at the beginning of the book for further clarification. I loved this book and so did my third grade students! It would be most appropriate for young readers in the elementary grades. When I read this book with my students, I was able to find an animated video of the story on http://www.discoveryeducation.com/. We also did a predicting activity, confirming our predictions throughout the story.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This playful book is about a cat that wants to eat his new mice neighbors for dinner. He tries to persuade them to come around him, but they are extremely terrified of him, as they should be! Chato the cat finally decides to invite these mice to a dinner party. They accept, but only under the circumstance that their good friend from their old neighborhood can attend as well. There are many words in Spanish in this book, but the author does a good job giving context clues for what these words mean, and also introducing pictures that would help students figure out what the text meant if they had no knowledge of Spanish. The illustrations do a great job of showing the culture portrayed in this book. There are colorful clothes that the characters wear, and none of the characters look alike. There are mice, cats, and a dog that help to show that even though these characters are all from the same place, they are all different. This book can be used to teach about friendship, differences, trickery, and even bullying. I really enjoyed reading this book, and definitely want to incorporate it into my lesson plans in my classroom.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of those books whose summary seemed really good but all in all it was more of letdown read for me. First of all I have always hated the "low-rider" portrayal, especially as it was hyped up so much with the playing of George Lopez, which I also didn't much care for and for this book to rely on that for their cat characters just basically ended the book for me.

At the same time we get the fact that this Mexican cat is a villain from the start since he is trying to sneak-up on a pigeon then gets caught up by his new neighbors instead. And the whole time this villain is planning to get his own selfish means achieved although that is also what ends up throwing the whole plan under the bus.

The illustrations were bright and detailed in the background story where various other animals were going around their business. And it was the fun details such as seeing the teen girl with a wired phone carrying around to her ear that caught my attention more so than the actual portrayal of the "gangsta"-like cats.

All in all this isn't something I am likely to read ever again....

[Chato]

Book Title: Chato's Kitchen
Author/Illustrator: Gary Soto/ Susan Guevara
Reading Level: 3.6
Book Level: k-3
Book Summary: Chato a cool chicano cat welcomes his new friends, five mice into the neighborhood with a meal. He cooks traditional Mexican meal with all the fixings with his friend Novio Boy another cool cat. This story is great for multi-cultural because it gives you the diverse country we are living in with the same feel from a pets view. The book has cats, birds, mice, and a dog. Once they put down their guard and trust one another they are able to live together and eat together.

The writing traits are word choice, voice, and presentation. The word choice is a mixture of Spanish and english. If you do not understand the book starts off with a glossary of all the spanish words. The voice is that of Chato and the presentation brings you into their lives.

[Nancy Perez Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chato’ Kitchen by Gary Soto is such an interesting book to read! This story is about Chato who has a sneaky plan to invite his neighbors (a family of mice) to come over and eat dinner. But Chato’s plan is to actually eat the family of mice but his plan does not goes as he hoped. This family of mice decided to invite a friend, which surprisingly was a dog! This funny and creative story is so interesting to read because of the events that take place. I think this book can be a good read that young readers can appreciate because of the hilarious storyline. I liked the meaning of this book because it shows readers about being kind to each other. Overall, this book has so much details in the illustrations that make the text come to life, and the storyline of the book also makes it very engaging and appealing to younger audiences.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Award Winning (for Both the Tomas Rivera Mexican Children's Book Award and the Pura Belpre Award for Latino Illustration), story of a cat, Chato, and his companion, Novio Boy, cook up a storm of Latin Cuisine favorites to serve as sides of their guests of a family of mice. The Mice bring along their own side, Cheese Quesadillas and Chorizo....Mishaps follow.

For parents and/or teachers, if you want to make a comparison to the Big Bad Wolves of Europe, Anansi of Africa, or the Brer Fox/Brer Bear of American folklore, Chato is a perfect alternative for Latino culture.

The book addresses a lot of Latino-based food ingredients and dishes (all of which were making very hungry while reading this), including the Spanish words for many of them.

The illustrations of the Barrio life and kitchen of Chato and the family, equally colorful and detailed, deserve their award.

[Sarah Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato is a very cool cat. When he gets new neighbors which just happen to be mice, he decides to invite them over for a nice dinner. Chato neglects to tell the mice that he plans to have them as the main course. Little does Chato know, the mice have a surprising friend that they have invited to come to dinner. Chato and his friend Navio Boy prepare many dishes throughout the whole day for the big dinner. When the mice show up, they arrive with their friend Chorizo the dog which completely ruins Chato's dinner plans. I really like this story because it incorporates some Spanish words with the rest of the text that is in English. I also think the illustrations in this story are very fun and would be engaging for younger readers. I would use this book in the classroom because it provides students with new perspectives and it is a fun, silly story that many students would enjoy.

[Makenna Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato’s Kitchen is written by Gary Soto and illustrated by Rafael Lopez. The cover of this book is filled with magical colors that grab the audience at first glance. The plot of this book follows Chato, who is a clever cat who lives in a little house in a Latino neighborhood. Chato loves to cook while living in his tiny cozy home. As Chato continues his journey, he meets a “frenemy” along the way and is met with a conflicting choice if he shall invite his “frenemy” to his big famous feast. Want to know who Chato decides? Read this book today! Chato’s Kitchen is a fun fairy tale that is meant to entertain its audience. The picture book is filled with fun and bright illustrations that help the story come to life all while having themes that show the importance of friendship and acceptance. This book is definitely one that I will have in my future classroom.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly written in Spanish, but uses a number of Spanish words and has a glossary. I like the story and my students liked it also at storytime. I worry a little about the "bad cats" and how they are portrayed and that it might be offensive to those of Hispanic culture. (All the characters in the story are Hispanic--good and bad.) I read this before Thanksgiving with the theme of "family and friends getting together for meals" especially since I have a couple of students who are Jehovah's Witnesses and I couldn't read Thankgiving stories (these families do not celebrate holidays, and I do not wish to exclude any child with my choice of read-aloud), but could still read about friends and family.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato, the cat, has a plan to get his new neighbors, a family of mice, to his house. He invites them to dinner and with the help of his best friend, Novio Boy they prepare a meal. Their plan was to eat the tastiest family of mice, but little did they know that the friend the family of mice invited was a dog. This book can be used in a classroom to introduce the culture of traditional Mexican food. There is also a mix of Spanish words students can learn from using context clues. I liked how the author incorporates Spanish words in the text and includes Mexican dishes. What I did not like about the book is the illustration. Although the illustrations were colorful I did not like how the cats looked like. Especially Chato, I thought his face looked creepy and weird.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, this is fun. A family of mice move into a new neighbourhood, and get a dinner invitation from the cat next door. (I'm sure you can see where this is going.) You can also see the twist, because when the mice ask to bring a guest the story relies on the assumption that this guest is another tasty, sausage-named mouse. Small kids are likely to fall for that but I'm not, so no surprises there either. But I don't mind, because the illustrations are so entertaining, and the story-telling itself so zippy and slyly amusing, that presentation ends up being far more important than plot. As is frequently the case with picture books, to be fair.

[Kelsey Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very funny book about a cat named Chato who invites his new mice neighbors over for dinner. What the mice don't know is that Chato and his friend Novio plan on eating the mice for dinner. The mice bring their friend Chorizo to dinner. The cats are terrified at first because Chorizo is a dog. They decide they aren't eating their guests tonight and end up having a very nice dinner with new friends. This book and it's illustrations are rich with Spanish words and the Spanish culture especially because of the bright colors in the illustrations. This book is great for ELL students because it includes some Spanish words along with the English words.

[Madison Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Diverse Literature
Awards: Pura Belpre Award
Audience: PreK through 2nd grade
A. The Hispanic culture is emphasized in this story. The story does not say which Spanish speaking country the characters live in, but they do speak Spanish throughout the book.
B. The main custom that is discussed is welcoming a new family to the neighborhood by making lots of food for everyone to eat. Some of the food mentioned is las tortillas, fajitas, frejoles (beans), and arroz (rice). The characters are also dressed in seemingly traditional clothing. The females are in long colorful dresses and the males are wearing cowboy hats.
C. I would say that the culture is portrayed positively. The book immerses the reader into the culture through the colors, words, and attire of the characters. The author does not make it a huge deal that the book is about a Hispanic speaking group, it is just a matter of fact.
D. Do you think it was right of the cat to lie to the mouse family about his intentions?
I do not think it was right of the cat to lie. I understand that he wanted to get an easy dinner by lying to the mice, but if he wanted to get them as every noble cat should he would have chased them.

[Ailsa Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Chato's Kitchen" by Gary Soto caught my attention very quickly. The artwork itself was very colorful and almost realistic to the actual animals. This book would be for older audiences as the font of the story is small and there are Spanish words. The Spanish words are easy to understand if you know a little bit of Spanish. This book was very good as it helps children learn two languages, and has an interesting plot, but the artwork is a little scary to look at. I still liked the vibrancy and overall story.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very silly, and well written. There were many things to enjoy while reading this book. It had fun dialogue between characters. I absolutely loved the the Spanish words and inclusion of Mexican-American culture. The drawings were very colorful and dynamic. I really like the detail of all of them. The pictures really set the tone of the book. I thought the ending of the book was funny. I can just see this book being read aloud to children in a classroom, and the kids laughing towards the end at the twist.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a family of 5 mice move in next door, the cat Chato and his best friend invite them over for supper. Chato and Novio Boy spend the whole day making supper, but they envision the mice as the main course.

The mice ask if they can bring a friend to supper. The friend's name is Chorizo. The cats think a supper of 6 mice sounds better than 5 mice, so they eagerly say Yes.

The cats are surprised when the mice come to supper and their friend Chorizo is a dachsund (wienie dog).

Love the Spanish words thrown in and the many foods mentioned.

[Greg Cockrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's title is Chato’s Kitchen. The author is Gary Soto and the Illustrator is Susan Guevara. This book is about a cat and a new family of mice that moved next door. I would say the protagonist would be the new family of mice and the antagonist would be Chato the cat. I say this because Chato was planning to eat the mice for dinner. This book also won the Pura Belpre award. This was a very good book, It had more words than a traditional picture book which is good because it shows a difference in this book compared to others.

[Gabriella Petrillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Chato's Kichen" by Gary Soto is a cute story about Chato a cool cat and how he tries to interact with a family of mice that moved next door to him. He invites them to dinner and plans to eat them. The story shows diversity in many ways as the reader explores the many different foods that both groups are making. The illustrations are amazing as you see the expressions on their face when the cat and his friend are tricked by the mice at the end.

[Korteney Farriols · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is about a clever cat who invites a family of mice to dinner with the intention of eating them. But his plan changes when the mice bring a surprise guest, a dog. This humorous story is great for kids aged 4 to 6 and explores themes of friendship, cultural diversity, and clever thinking. With its use of both English and Spanish, it helps introduce bilingualism and Latinx culture, making it a fun and educational read for early childhood classrooms.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chato, a cat, invites the mouse family, new to the neighborhood, over for dinner. He and Novio Boy, his friend, prepare all kinds of Mexican food that will “go with mice.” However, the mouse family invites their friend, Chorizo, to come with. Chorizo just happens to be a dog. So, the meal is quite pleasant after all.

[Gatto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has style! It's about a hip cat who invites some mice over for dinner. Just before he plans to eat the mice, the dog friend of the mice shows up to join. It's a hilarious book because the story and writing style are fantastic. The art is vibrant and creative.

An elementary classroom can use this book to practice prediction.

[Kate Nichter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not too much of a fan of this book. For smaller children, this book could be creepy and the illustrations are odd to look at. I think children will have a hard time seeing the bigger image of seeing that all people and all things can be friends.