Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115404 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

From Amazon.com
"Chato, a low-riding cat with six stripes, was slinking toward a sparrow when he heard the scrape of tiny feet coming from the yard next door." You get the idea. Chato is a sly, mustachioed "cool cat" from an East Los Angeles barrio. The tiny feet? Those belong to the new mice (ratoncitos) next door--"five mice the color of gray river rock," to be precise. Chato promptly invites them over for dinner, in exactly the sense you might fear.

"That Chato cat seems muy simpatico, very nice, I'm sure," says Papi mouse. The mice (being cheese lovers) spend the day making quesadillas for the fiesta, while Chato and his best friend Novio Boy busily prepare side dishes for a meal con ratoncitos. Instead of the anticipated gruesome ending, a surprise twist is in the works.

Gary Soto, author of Too Many Tamales, is brilliantly witty, and Chato's Kitchen--an ALA Notable Book and a Parents' Choice Award Winner--is truly marvilloso. Susan Guevera's comical, deliciously detailed, richly colored depictions of the creatures are priceless as well, earning her the 1996 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration. A culinary concoction that no youngster (or adult) will be able to resist. (Ages 4 to 8)

From Publishers Weekly
Soto (Too Many Tamales) commands a poet's gift for defining characters quickly, densely and, in this case, with hilariously choice words. Paired with Guevara's (The Boardwalk Princess) wickedly funny, urban paints, Soto's story of Chato, a cool, "low-riding cat" of East Los Angeles, is a scream. Chato and his friend Novio Boy plan a dinner for (and, they hope, of) the new mice next door. But the mice bring a surprise guest named Chorizo (sausage), who turns out to be a truly low-riding dachshund. Foiled, the cats resign themselves to mouseless fajitas. It's a basic enough tale, but close to brilliant in its execution. Guevara's cats are delicious send-ups of barrio characters, and Soto's words glisten with wit: "We brought Chorizo,' Mami mouse called./ Sausage! Chato and Novio Boy danced, and with clean paws they gave each other a 'low-four.'" Salud to this magical pairing of talents. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3-8. Chato thinks he's the cool cat of East Los Angeles, and when a family of small mice moves next door to him in the barrio, invites them over for dinner--to be his dinner. With his flashy pal Novio Boy, Chato 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. Guevara's very bright illustrations extend the situation comedy with zany details of magic realism. These animal characters are very human: the mouse teenager talks on her mobile phone; Chato's friend mambos to his boom box. Best of all is the fun with scale, especially in a story where the small creatures win. Hazel Rochman

Customer Reviews

Sleek and sophisticated
A remarkably original book. The illustrations are well wrought, and the story contains some of the most evocative I�ve heard in a picture book. Describing Novio Boy�s collar, the book says it was, �a leather one with real gems that sparkled at night when cars passed in the street�. The cats themselves are a twinge odd. Drawn with cat bodies but human eyes, teeth, and moustaches, they are just disturbing enough to keep the pictures interesting. It�s a colorful book as well, full of beautiful swirling scenes and bold shapes. The use of Spanish throughout the text is seamless as well, never striking the reader as out of place or jarring. This book would read well with other stories that incorporate more than one language in their text. Or, kids could read it with other picture books that take place in Hispanic communities. Or, it could be paired with other stories where hungry preying animals fail to get a meal. A beautiful book to read aloud to groups.

Another Gary Soto hit!!!
Any controversy surrounding this book is misplaced. It is a well-written story that entices children to want to to read it and other books. Rarely is there such a fine blending between the words of the author and the pictures of the illustrator. My students love this book and read it again and again.

One of the books I read the most!
The book put me in a good mood. It is in English, but there are some Spanish words that are hard to read sometimes. I really liked the part when the cat was sneaking up behind the bird. The cat then heard the five mice walking, and he started swinging his tail to the rhythm of their walking. The cat goes up to the gate and ends up scaring the mice. That was only one of the funny scenes. The book has one more funny part at the end that I don't want to give away. Anybody who reads this book will love it!