  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 06/01/2016 Toddler-PreS—A playful collection that interweaves Spanish words into classic Mother Goose rhymes in English. With everything from "María Had a Little Oveja" to "Twinkle Twinkle Small Estrella," Elya presents the familiar rhymes with a twist, following her usual formula of interlingual rhyming text. The Spanish words are presented in bold and italics, and the sentence construction follows an unnatural form of code-switching that doesn't speak to the authenticity of bilingual and Spanish-speaking readers. The book's forte is Martinez-Neal's soft and delightful illustrations, which capture the sweetness and warmth of the tales. Using a variation of single pages and spreads, the illustrator makes the most of each page to enhance the visual experience of children by adding playful characters, Spanish words, and friendly animals. A glossary is appended, which includes the Spanish words used, their pronunciation, and their meaning in English, with the goal of introducing English speakers to Spanish words that are not traditionally used in interlingual picture books. For those interested in a more successful Latino parallel of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy's Mamá Goose: A Latino Nursery Treasury is recommended. VERDICT An optional purchase for library collections.—Sujei Lugo, Boston Public Library, MA - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2016 Elya has taken sixteen classic nursery rhymes and rewritten them with a Spanish flair, sometimes simply translating a few of the words into Spanish (“One potato, dos potatoes, tres potatoes, four”), sometimes making larger alterations to include rhyming words in Spanish: “Peter, Peter Calabaza,/ got a wife for his new casa./ When she saw the round casita,/ she repainted it-bonita!” While some of the rhymes lose their scansion with the Spanish substitution and gain little, many of the revisions are dynamic and refreshing, with a playful back and forth between the languages. The dual-language approach enables multiple possibilities for use, from bilingual storytime presentations to ESL classes to lessons on inferences in English-speaking classrooms (a glossary and pronunciation guide for the Spanish words, which are printed in bold and italic fonts within the text, are included at the book’s beginning). Martinez-Neal’s sunny, soft-edged art, rendered in acrylics, colored pencils and graphite on textured paper, is buoyant and fresh. Child figures in varying skin tones gleefully cavort with cuddly critters across cheerful backdrops, and although they are clearly modern, their slightly stylized appearance (widely spaced eyes, snub noses, rosy cheeks) gives them a look reminiscent of Gyo Fujikawa’s classic illustrations. Despite some weak spots, the book will be a handy title for many libraries, schools, and homes. JH - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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