This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). In the summer of 1996, the Center offered the Culture and Children's Literature Institute of France and Mexico. Forty participants (20 teachers of French and 20 of Spanish) were selected from applicants across the nation to participate in the 10-day institute. This institute focused on effective strategies for the development and teaching of thematic curriculum units based on cultural knowledge and children's literature of France and Mexico. A key component of this institute was small group collaboration in the development of thematic units integrating language, culture, and content. Each small group selected a work of children's literature and created a unit. During the fall of 1996, the teachers piloted their units in their own classrooms after which final revisions were made. This unit is based on the children's book, "Cuadros de familia." This unit not only beautifully demonstrates how to use children's literature to teach Spanish, but clarifies how language, content, and culture can be integrated in lessons that actively involve students in language learning.