An inventive teacher and a generous helping of internal strength takes Spanish-speaking Carmen over the language barrier when she starts school. La Señora Koski eases her new student into the classroom with a Spanish greeting: “Her Spanish sounded muy terrible!...I could see that she would not laugh at me if my English was terrible too.” Word by word and phrase by phrase, Carmen picks up English; she bridges her experiences by teaching her classmates some Spanish and her little sister English so she will be ready to start school next year. Cox gets Carmen’s narration just right, folding in both Spanish words and enough malapropisms to give readers a sense of her special voice. Dominguez’s bright paintings present a basically confident little girl whose progress from anxious frowns to smiles will make readers cheer. Muy bueno. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)
