Icy Watermelon / Sandia fria

Family gatherings often promise to be fruitful for grandkids, but they generally don't offer much in the way of surprises. When the charming family at the center of Icy Watermelon / Sandia fria gathers to enjoy a watermelon and some family fun, they find that even something so simple can create a treat that the whole family enjoys.

Hugo, Maria, and Sarita enjoy spending time with their abuelos. And they in turn enjoy teasing their grandchildren with adivinanzas, little riddles that make the children giggle and smile even while leading them to think about the world in new ways.

So when Grandpa begins to reminisce about his own father, and about the watermelons they raised long ago, the three youngsters recognize yet another curious adivinanza in the telling: could their easygoing, jovial abuelo, with his grey hair and great big tummy, really have been a shy young man once? And what do those long-gone watermelons of many years back have to do with the family they are now?

Together author Mary Sue Galindo and illustrator Pauline Rodriguez Howard present a delightfully sweet (even juicy!) tale for readers aged 3 to 7--a story that also carries the seeds of family tradition for them to plant and cultivate in some future summer.