Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/01/2020 Upon opening this inviting, colorful primer on Spanish words, readers will find a brief introduction followed by a two-page spread of Spanish basics, which discusses plurals, gender, and definite articles, as well as regional differences in the language. What follows are 17 different categories, each of which takes up a two-page spread, covering the usual colors and numbers as well as less-common topics, such as travel and gardening. The simple text, pairing an English word with its Spanish translation (e.g., hair and pelo, bear and oso, book and libro, and so on), is accompanied by engaging, childlike watercolor renderings of each object or concept in a bright, cheerful palette. For all its appealing appearance, however, the purpose of the book is to learn Spanish, and the high-level concepts in the introduction and the lack of a pronunciation guide mean that this will likely be difficult for young children to parse on their own, so adults will need to be on hand to help fill in any gaps. A cute book to help supplement more age-appropriate primers on Spanish. - Copyright 2020 Booklist.