  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 08/01/2018 PreS-Gr 1—Ever since Niña was born, she and Abuela have loved spending time together, making papel picado, and especially eating pan dulce in the park every Sunday. As Niña grows older, Abuela puts away the pesos she can in order to buy Niña a special gift. As time goes on, things change—not only between Abuela and Niña, but in all of Mexico as well. Niña spends more time with her friends, and when the currency in Mexico changes, Abuela's pesos are no longer worth anything, and she sometimes has difficulty gathering coins to set aside. When Niña visits Abuela, she finds the house dusty and lonely, and decides to clean it up and surprise Abuela. When she finds the pesos set aside, Abuela tells her about the special gift she had wanted to give her. Using the paper money, they decide to make beautiful papel picado together, and go back to their favorite way of spending Sundays: eating pan dulce in the park. Beautiful and soft pastel colored illustrations decorate every page and bring the papel picado and the homes and neighborhoods to life. Filled with lovely illustrations and the all-too-true message that "sometimes life just gets in the way," this story seems to be going in different directions, and ultimately ends abruptly and leaves readers yearning for a little bit more. VERDICT An additional purchase.—Selenia Paz, Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 07/01/2019 From the day Niña is born, she and her grandmother have a special, loving relationship. Throughout Niña's childhood, she and Abuela sing, dance, laugh, go to the park, and create beautiful papel picado banners, a type of Mexican folk art. As Niña grows older, she wants to spend time with her friends, Abuela visibly ages, and external changes related to Mexico and its economy add stress. Soon, the country decides to replace its currency, and old bills must be exchanged for new ones. But because Abuela is becoming more forgetful, she does not exchange the currency she'd been saving, and by the time she and Niña find the stash of money, it's too late: the money is worthless. Rather than mourn the monetary loss, however, Niña suggests cutting the old bills into papel picado banners, and their time shared together is priceless, even though it doesn't cost a thing. Ruiz's mixed-media illustrations, which resemble block printing, nicely telegraph the shifting mood of the story, successfully conveying a complex topic in a genial way. - Copyright 2019 Booklist. Loading...
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