!Yum, MmMm, Que Rico! Non-Rhyming Book Review

Mora, P. (2007). !Yum, mmmm, que rico!: America’s sproutings. Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. New York: Lee and Low.

This delightful smorgasbord of delicious seventeen-syllable haiku satisfy a poetry-hungry mind. Mora explores fourteen foods native to the Americas, like corn, chocolate, potatoes and vanilla, and melds them into tasty bites. The language, though sparse as haiku dictates, is rich and the last of the three lines turns the course of the poem in a fun way. For example, in “Corn” she grabs the essence of the food. Warning! Mouth may water!

Corn
Leaves sprout silk-snug house.
Smell grits, tortillas, corn bread.
Pass the butter, please.

The images Mora creates are vivid and yet the tone of each poem varies. From hot summer days to pumpkin autumn nights, she makes the haiku experience accessible and playful. Lopez’s illustrations pop in a rainbow of colors and bold images. The vivid two-page spreads, however, do not over power the haiku- a testament to the strength of the poetry. A blurb of history and use accompanies each type of food to create a curriculum tie-in and rounds out the fullness of the book. Overall, this volume is a work of art poetically, visually, and gastronomically!