Chato's Kitchen
"Chato, a low-riding cat with six stripes, was  slinking toward a sparrow when he heard the scrape of tiny feet  coming from the yard next door." You get the idea. Chato is a  sly, mustachioed "cool cat" from an East Los Angeles  barrio. The tiny feet? Those belong to the new mice  (ratoncitos) next door--"five mice the color of gray  river rock," to be precise. Chato promptly invites them over  for dinner, in exactly the sense you might fear."That Chato cat seems muy simpatico, very nice, I'm  sure," says Papi mouse. The mice (being cheese lovers) spend  the day making quesadillas for the fiesta, while Chato and his  best friend Novio Boy busily prepare side dishes for a mealcon  ratoncitos. Instead of the anticipated gruesome ending, a  surprise twist is in the works.Gary Soto, author ofToo Many Tamales,  is brilliantly witty, andChato's Kitchen--an ALA Notable  Book and aParents' ChoiceAward Winner--is trulymarvilloso. Susan Guevera's comical, deliciously detailed,  richly colored depictions of the creatures are priceless as well,  earning her the 1996 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration. A  culinary concoction that no youngster (or adult) will be able to  resist.(Ages 4 to 8)