Seven-year-old Alicia and her parents are enjoying the annual festival celebrating Mexico’s independence. There are mariachis strolling across the festival grounds, folkloric dancers twirling in their colorful costumes and brightly colored booths lining the plaza.
But the hot day has fruit juice: there’s watermelon, strawberry, mango and even papaya. The watermelon juice is so delicious that Alicia drinks it all. “Mami, this tastes better than that red soda I drink after soccer practice. Can we make some of these at home?” Soon, Alicia is perfecting her own recipe and sharing it with her teammates after soccer practices and games.
In this bilingual picture book for children ages 5-8, a young girl discovers a treat from her mother’s Mexican-American childhood and becomes her friends’ favorite player with her healthy, frothy fruit drinks.
Named to the 2013-2014 Tejas Star Reading List
“The fruit-blended juice drinks known as aguas frescas offered at a fair inspire a little girl and her mother to serve their own version after a soccer practice. The dual English/Spanish text is augmented by summery scenes in opaque, rich colors. The simplicity of the suggested idea that homemade fruit juice will always be fun to make and delicious to drink is appealing.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The illustrations make you want to grab whatever fruit you have available and fire up the blender right away! This book will pair well with A Day without Sugar/Un día sin azucar.”—School Library Journal
“The pages are jam-packed with wonderful illustrations that capture the story fully. The words are carefully crafted. . . to keep the story interesting for its younger audience. This would be a great opportunity for Latino students to see ‘like-kind’ characters that they can identify with, and also to allow non-Latino students to learn about another culture.”—TheLatinoAuthor.com
LUPE RUIZ-FLORES is the author of six bilingual picture books: Lupita’s First Dance / El primer baile de Lupita (2013), Let’s Salsa / Bailemos salsa (2013), Alicia’s Fruity Drinks / Las aguas frescas de Alicia (2012), The Battle of the Snow Cones / La Guerra de las raspas (2010), The Woodcutter’s Gift / El regalo del leñador (2007) and Lupita’s Papalote / El papalote de Lupita (2002). She has also written children’s narrative passages for Harcourt Educational Measurement Center. Some of her poetry has been published in Voices Along the River, the San Antonio Express-News, and Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review. She received a Master of Arts in Computer Resources and Information Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1994. She was an engineering technician with the Department of Defense until her retirement in 1999. She is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and is currently working on a middle grade novel.
Learn more at luperuiz-flores.com.
LAURA LACÁMARA is a Cuban-American artist and author. She wrote and illustrated Dalia’s Wondrous Hair / El cabello maravilloso de Dalia (Piñata Books, 2013). She is the illustrator of The Runaway Piggy / El cochinito fugitivo (Piñata Books, 2010) and Alicia’s Fruity Drinks / Las aguas frescas de Alicia (Piñata Books, 2012) and the author of Floating on Mama’s Song / Flotando en la canción de mamá (HarperCollins, 2010). She lives in Venice, California, with her family.
Learn more at lauralacamara.com.
ATOS Interest Level: Lower Grades
Category: Picture Book
ATOS English: 3.2
ATOS Spanish: 3.1
Accelerated Reader Quiz #: 152601
