Mice and Beans by Pam Ryan

Mice and Beans by Pam Ryan

Children's Literature Legacy Award Winner

Rosa Maria lives in a small house with a small yard. But she has a big heart, a big family, and more than anything she loves to cook big meals for them.

"When there's room in the heart, there's room in the house, except for a mouse." That's what her mother always said, so for one week as Rosa Maria meticulously prepares for her youngest grandchild's birthday party, she takes extra care in tidying her kitchen. But strangely, important items -- like her wooden spoon, her big bolsa for grocery shopping, and even her mousetraps -- keep disappearing!

Readers will delight in uncovering the clues that reveal a family of mice are preparing for a birthday party of their own, and in the last picture, readers can search for all the items that have previously disappeared.

Vibrant paintings with brilliant comic touches, a winsome main character, jaunty rhythms, and playful refrains make Mice and Beans a feast for the eyes and ears.

Pam Muoz Ryan is the author of Echo, a New York Times Best Seller, a Newbery Honor Novel from 2016, and the Kirkus Award winner. She has authored over forty novels for children and has received numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts' Human and Civil Rights Prize, the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, the Willa Cather Award, the Pura Belpré Medal, and the PEN USA Award. Esperanza Rising, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi León, Paint the Wind, and The Dreamer are some of her novels.