Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice

by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova, Robert Roth (Illustrator)

Mama Provi and her granddaughter Lucy live in the same tall apartment building -- Mama Provi on the first floor, Lucy on the eighth. When Lucy has the chicken pox and can't come down to visit, Mama Provi decides to make a trip upstairs with a big pot of her tasty arroz con pollo. But on her way up the seven flights of stairs, she meets a neighbor on every floor. En un dos por tres (in Spanish this means "lickedy-split"), the chicken and rice are joined by Mrs. Landers's crusty white bread, Señor Rivera's frijoles negros, Mrs. Woo's tea, and more...and Mama Provi arrives at Lucy's door with a tremendous feast!

Genres: Picture Books, Cultural, Food, Childrens, Family, Illness

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this story, a little girl named Lucy lives at the eighth floor of an apartment building, and her grandmother, Mama Provi, lives on the ground floor. One day, Lucy is sick, so Mama Provi decides to make her chicken and rice. Mama Provi doesn't use elevators, so she has to climb all eight flights. She takes a rest on each floor and has a variety of food exchanges with her neighbors. By the time she gets to the top, Mama Provi has a feast ready for Lucy.

I've used this book twice now for both Spanish and bilingual story time programs, and I absolutely love it! The library I work for has wonderful flannelboard art pieces to tell the story. It's a big red apartment building, and every window has a flap that opens up to reveal the dish that particular neighbor exchanges for some of Mama Provi's chicken and rice. While telling the story, I have a market bag in which I put all of the food pieces. The apartment building piece also has a flap at the top that opens to reveal part of a red-and-white checked tablecloth. For the ending, I take out all the food pieces I've put in the bag (I also ask the children to name what the item is) and place them on the tablecloth.

[Yadira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful book is the story of Mama Provi’s journey going from the first floor of her building to the eighth floor to bring a pot of rice (arroz con pollo) to her granddaughter who is sick with chicken pox. Along the way, Mama Provi meets different people of various races, who trade with her their foods for a bowl of her delicious rice. By the time she gets up to the eight floor she has multicultural feast to share with Lucy.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mama Provi makes a traditional Latin American dish and as she is bringing it to her sick granddaughter in an upper floor apartment, she trades bowls of her soup with other tenants for different foods around the world. I would have liked more descriptive pictures to go along with the story, especially of the different foods, as it seems that that is the focus.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the story of a grandmother taking some arroz con pollo up the 8 floors to deliver to her sick granddaughter, trading bowls of it for various tasty treats with the neighbor on each floor. Lovely story but not my favorite illustrations :( I feel like they could have been made more appetizing and not so blurry and washed out.

[Auna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully creative book! Mama Provi walks up I think 8 flights of stairs on her way to bring her sick granddaughter some arroz con pollo. On each floor she runs into a neighbor who contributes a new dish to her dinner for her granddaughter. I think this shows the mixing of cultures and how they can all get along together through food. It also is a good way to introduce a well balanced meal to students.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about a grandmother’s love, and proof that sharing is caring as Mama Provi travels up the eight stories of her apartment building to visit her sick granddaughter; while meeting interesting residence along the way.

[Rebecca Caufman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about bartering this for that and sharing. The result is an amazing meal!

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an older book on the longer side, but it’s a sweet story about a grandmother who cheers up her sick granddaughter with a delicious meal - a combination of foods from her friendly neighbors.

[Clairissa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mama Provi and The Pot of Rice is about a grandmother and granddaughter who live in the same apartment building and spend a great amount of time together. One day the granddaughter becomes ill with the chicken pocks and is unable to visit her grandmother for a period of time. In an effort to make her granddaughter feel better the grandmother decides to cook her granddaughter a lovely pot of chicken and rice. As she proceeds to take the rice to her granddaughter she stops by each of her neighbors houses on each floor and and exchanges a little bit of rice for another part of the meal. This book is great for introducing culture to students' it is entertaining and also introducing the concept of characters to your students'.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

If every apartment was as full of good cooks and camaraderie as Mama Provi's, the world would be a warmer place. We could just climb up and down the steps to see each other, to burn off all the calories of that rice and bread and collard greens.

It's a little long for reading aloud, and I stumbled over the non-English expressions (even Mama Provi--how does one pronounce Provi?!) but the themes--food and community and compassion--are my favorites. I am glad I picked this book up from our library's free shelf, and can give it another life on our shelves.

...On a second (or is it fifth?) read-aloud, it occurs to me to hope that Mama Provi didn't get a case of shingles from her visit to her granddaughter's apartment full of chicken pox.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

We recently read Laundry Day by Maurie J. Manning and it has a very similar context to the story. The multicultural neighborhood brings an interesting mix of food to the mix for Mama Provi's lunch for little Lucy.

The story is repetitive and entertaining and would be appropriate for young school-age children. The illustrations are expressive and complement the story nicely. We really enjoyed reading this book together.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The story tells about the love between a Puerto Rican grandmother and her granddaughter now living in an apartment building together. The illustrations are just as beautiful. It has rich cultural components showing the importance of family, friends, good food, and traditions. Also, the story displays many levels of family and neighborly love. I love how the neighbors have such a wonderful sense of community.

[Valary · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorable story of a grandma who takes a pot of arroz con pollo to her granddaughter on the 8th floor and stops to rest on each floor where she trades some rice for whatever smells so good from the other apartments she passes

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combine this one with Demi's One Grain of Rice and Nora Dooley's Everybody Cooks Rice for a story time on rice. Made me hungry!

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay picture book, but it will make you hungry!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice multi-cultural story - she heads up the stairs to take her granddaughter arroz con pollo, and stops at all the floors and does a trade with the various, diverse neighbors.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book that shows the importance and benifit of neighbors, and taking care of eachother.

[Chardell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about a Grandmother that decides to bring rice and chicken to her sick granddaughter. In the mean time, the grandmother runs into a few neighbors in their building.

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for Hispanic ELL students because of the simple integrated Spanish theme. Also good to discuss families and illnesses.

[Sandybear76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mama is visiting her granddaughter and carrying a pot of rice. As Mama climbs the stairs, she smells the neighbors' food. Yum.

[Tiffany Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute story!

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweet, heart-filled book makes me happy.

Classroom Connection
This is a perfect book to use on our second grade unit on neighbors and community.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A multicultural book. You'll learn a lot of dish names. There is some repetition and a little too wordy for my kids, but I'm sure they will enjoy it when they're older.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ages 5-8