Abuelita and I Make Flan was a fun read to share with my younger nieces! I see this story turning into a family tradition. The story was adorable and hit on such key points in a Latinx family. Traditions start in the home, and this story follows this theme and is a great way of explaining traditions to younger kiddos. I also love that the story goes back and forth between Spanish and English.


Overall, I plan on this book being a ritual in my house and a tradition to read during special holidays. Traditions can be so important, especially when many families live in the states and not the motherland. Sometimes traditions can be the only connection between the two places.

A cute little story about baking with your grandma. It's nice but nothing special and nothing I am likely to remember.

'Abuelita and I Make Flan' by Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom. This is a truly unique, beautifully illustrated, and beautifully written story; about a young girl and her Abuelita who are making flan for Abuelo's birthday. Anita loves to bake with her Abuelita, however when she breaks her Grandmother's special serving plate, from Cuba, Anita struggles with what to do and how to fix the mess she's made.

This story is my definition of perfection. It ticks every box for a children's book.
Well-written - tick
Good, flowing plot line - tick
Top-tier characters - definite tick

I love the dynamic between Anita and her Abuelita, the warmth their relationship emits is truly special. The story is child-friendly in the sense it is something pupils in EYFS/ KS1 (pupils aged 7 and under) will be able to read, and easily follow. The illustrations are warm, and bring this already beautiful story to life. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Rated: 5 stars

Thank you so much to Netgallery and Charlesbridge Publishing for allowing me to read such a warm-hearted story. My review will be published to Toppsta, Goodreads, and my Bookstagram under the username reading_with_chlo.

I received an electronic ARC from Charlesbridge through NetGalley.
Anita is excited to make flan for her Abuelo's birthday. She is Abuelita's top assistant and knows exactly what to do to make this dessert. She even knows the special plate it is always served on. Unfortunately, she breaks the crystal plate. Readers see this weigh on her during the baking process until she tells the truth. She creates a new tradition with another special plate.
A charming story about family and traditions that readers will connect with. Terrific family read aloud.

It’s Abuelo’s (Spanish for grandfather) birthday and Anita is going to make flan with her Abuelita (Spanish for grandmother)! She’s so excited, but oh no! she’s making mistakes left and right. Will she ruin the celebration or will she save the day?

A wonderfully inclusive Cuban story weaving in Spanish and English effortlessly. A story about multi-generational familial traditions, the bravery of truthtelling, and learning that mistakes are okay.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange of my honest opinion.

I do love to read stories about Grandchildren spending quality time with their Grandparents. It fills my heart with warmth and make me think about all the good times I had with my Grandmother.

In Abuelita and I Make Flan, we follow Anita and her Grandma, who are about to start cooking a flan for Grandad's birthday!

The story is sweet, cute, fun and with a great end and beautiful illustrations!

I loved it!

This adorable book centers around a little girl and her Aubelita making dessert for the family. In the process, she breaks a glass, and is scared to tell in fear of the repercussions.

This story is a beautiful one that reminds us as well as our children about the importance of truthfulness and family.

This is a story about a little girl named Anita who is excited to make flan with her Abuelita for her Abuelo’s birthday. She accidentally breaks the crystal flan dish before they begin making flan, and she is nervous the whole time she is baking with Abuelita. When Anita finally breaks down and tells the truth, she is met with the most heartwarming response.

My 4 year old twin girls loved following along with the story and the recipe. It reminded them of how we make muffins and cupcakes together. I love how the author included the actual flan recipe, pictures of her family, and a glossary of Spanish terms at the end.

This is a beautiful culturally rich story about love, family, honesty, and forgiveness.

Thank you to Charlesbridge and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A young girl makes flan with her Cuba-American abuela, but something goes wrong. This beautifully illustrated book celebrates family and culture while also teaching the importance of honesty, forgiveness, and love. The author's incorporates some Spanish words/phrases (glossary included) into the text as well as some humor . This is a title that I would read aloud to the children at my library.

A lovely look at a Cuban dish and family tradition through the eyes of little Anita. It's her Abeulo's (grandfather's) birthday, and today she gets to help her Abuelita (grandmother) make Flan for the party. Only, before they start, Anita accidently breaks the special serving tray they always use. And as she's helping Abeulita make the flan, she's nervous the whole time about what will happen when she tells Abeulo and Abeulita about the broken serving dish. In the end, everything works out and she learns a little bit about her Abeulo as well.

I loved this book, but as someone whose Spanish is very basic, I needed to reference the translations in the back quite a bit. Still an amazing read for our family, and my little now wants to use the Flan recipe to make our own flan sometime soon!

I was provided an ARC copy of this book through Netgalley. My thanks to the publisher and the author for providing it to me. 4.5 stars!

A little girl and her Abuelita (grandmother) are going to make flan for Abuelo (grandfather). It's his favorite, an "upside-down" cheesecake with caramel sauce. The girl is excited and accidentally breaks the storied crystal family flan platter.

Making the treat is fun, and waiting for it is hard, but the girl worried about the platter. She tells the truth, and it has a great ending with a small twist.

A simple story with a recipe for flan and a Spanish to English translation key in back for readers who don't recognize all of the Spanish spoken in the story. (Very helpful!)

4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the preview of the ebook pdf. The review was voluntary.

#AbuelitaAndIMakeFlan #NetGalley

It's lovely to see different cultural backgrounds and personal stories in children's books! And the book is also helpful for little Spanish learners too, but the words were kind of hard. I liked the photos of original abuelitos at the back as well! It was lovely!

Thank you Charlesbridge and NetGalley for approving my request on the arc of this little book!

This is my first book by Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom and I enjoyed it !

I enjoyed reading the story if Anita who loves baking with her grandma. One day they decide to bake flan for Abuelo's birthday but with the excitement she drops something special.

The book touches on family ,history ,honesty and forgiveness. I enjoyed this book so much and recommend it. I received a complimentary copy and all opinions expressed are my own.

Learning new cultures or affirming the culture of our families is what I appreciated about this children's book. A grandmother and her granddaughter share making a bread together. Family is a common good in all cultures and so important to teach our children.



A special thank you to Charlesbridge and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Anita accidentally breaks her grandmother’s special serving dish from Cuba…when that dish is used to flip over flan, which they are about to make. Making flan takes hours, but the anxiety mounts because of course Anita’s secret will come out once people realize the serving dish is missing. The familial exchanges and the togetherness of baking are both sweet. A recipe, translations, and personal author photos are included at the end to add extra dimensions to this already engaging picture book. I read this via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.

I love book that represent cultural diversity and enlighten young kids on different nationalities, religious values, ethnicity etc in an entertaining and cordial way. 'Abuelita and I Make Flan' is one bright example of those sweetest stories successfully melting hearts. Anita shares a tight bond with her grandparents and wants to surprise her abuelo on his birthday by preparing Flan served on a traditional Cuban plate close to their heart. But what happens when she breaks the plate? Will she come clean or keep it a secret? How will she save the precious day she's been so eagerly waiting to celebrate from ruination?

It was short and adorable read. The illustrations accompanying the story were as cute and sweet as Anita's heartfelt efforts. I had a hard time interpreting the words. It disrupted my flow couple of times. There is a glossary at the end but I would have appreciated it if it were at the beginning of this book. I know that's not usually the case, just stating my opinion. There is also a recipe that I would love to try out. Now what stood out to me more than anything was the acknowledgement. Does it sound weird? It warmed my heart and made me smile. Saying anything will be spoiling it. You need to read the book yourself to find out!

Thank you Netgalley and the author for providing me with an e-copy! I truly enjoyed it.

Such a heartwarming, loving, and overall a nice read.

It was about Anita who gets to join her grandmother to make flan for her grandfather’s birthday. But something unexpected happened, and Anita’s on a clock in telling her grandmother before the flan is ready.

The illustrations were charming, and it fitted the story really well. This story was a great way to learn children about how telling the truth is a good thing, and not something to worry about/or dread. Usually, telling the truth is simply owning up to what happened, and in telling the truth as soon as possible means that we can learn trusting one another. Trust grows when we are honest with each other. I think that’s a great message. Especially when you are growing up and nervous about mistakes we have done.

I also really liked the small dictionary at the back. As a person who’s native language is Norwegian, it was good to see and understand the text better with the translations in the back.

I’d recommend this!

Abuelita and I Make Flan was such a cute and informative book! I loved the text features (labels and more). This book was not just heartwarming — it was inspiring and fact-finding! As a teacher, I would love to have this book in my own classroom!

Abuelita and I Make Flan is a cute book that tells the story of a little girl who is excited to make flan with her grandmother. Before they begin, she breaks the special plate they always use and so she spends part of the story wondering if she should tell her grandmother what happened. I love the cross-generational part of this story, especially when they talk about all the ways she can help her grandmother since her hands are stiff with arthritis. I really appreciated the Spanish throughout the book. This is a lovely story that celebrates family and culture.

This is a great book to celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. The story is about a young girl who is learning a traditional recipe from her grandparents. As an early years teacher, I think this book would be a great introduction to a unit on families, traditions, culture or even nutrition. I also think this is a great opportunity to add books to a classroom library that reflect diversity and that students may see themselves represented and welcome. The story also centres on the fear the child has when she breaks an important family heirloom and is afraid to tell her family. It shows that people make mistakes but family is what is important - a valuable lesson for young learners. The story ends with a Spanish glossary as well as a recipe for the flan described in the book. I feel this would be a great book for teachers or parents of children probably aged 4-9 or so. I appreciate Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book to review. I look forward to one day purchasing a copy for my class library and I think you should get a copy too!