Three Stalks of Corn
By
Leo Polito
Polito, Leo, 1976, Three Stalks of Corn, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
This story is about a young girl growing up with her grandmother in a California city called Pico Rivera. Angelica, the girl, wonders about the corn growing in their yard and why her grandmother values it so. Grandmother always exclaims "Que bonito!"(How nice!) as she passes the corn stalks. Grandmother begins to teach Angelica how important corn is to their people. She explains legends of the corn, shows Angelica how to make tortillas, lets her play with her corn husk dolls, and instructs her granddaughter on making brightly colored corn necklaces. Angelica begins to see the importance of corn and to understand why grandmother finds corn so important.
This is a gentle story by Politi that shares the love between grandmother and granddaughter. This realistic fiction book describes a section of a city inhabited by people of Mexican descent. This novel could be used in a unit on Mexico showing their traditions and strong family bonds. The author gives some recipes at the end of the book for tacos and enchiladas. To enhance this unit it would be a delicious treat for the students to try these new recipes, make corn husk dolls, and string bright corn necklaces. Middle and upper elementary grade students could create extraordinary projects. This book could be incorporated into many different lesson plans.
By Terri Viken