by Juan Felipe Herrera ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2019
Quiet, simple, and sweet.
A bilingual Spanish/English spatial-awareness concept book.
Herrera—U.S. poet laureate from 2015 to 2017—introduces the concept of proximity in a series of simple statements that start with a child getting ready to go out and end with the child approaching a friend’s house. The statements are presented first in Spanish followed by italicized English, effectively normalizing the Spanish. “Mi cuarto está cerca de la cocina. / My bedroom is close to the kitchen.” Gómez’s color-saturated illustrations portray a child in a jaunty striped T-shirt and two cute pigtails proceeding from bedroom to kitchen to door, daisies, apple tree, horses, and, finally, the friend’s house. By breaking up the journey into incremental “cerca / close” steps the author brings the close friendship into focus. Companion volume Lejos / Far starts with the same two characters under a lemon tree, with the friend—now the main character—looking back to the house in the distance. This time the emphasis is on places that are far: from lemon tree to house, city, ocean, and mountains. As the child walks in the mountains holding a caregiver’s hand, clouds can be seen far above, and further than that is the sun: “El sol brilla sobre mí. / The sun shines over me.” Both the children and the adult have brown skin and black hair.
Quiet, simple, and sweet. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9062-5
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by Juan Felipe Herrera
BOOK REVIEW
by Juan Felipe Herrera ; illustrated by Lauren Castillo
BOOK REVIEW
by Juan Felipe Herrera ; illustrated by Juan Felipe Herrera
BOOK REVIEW
by Juan Felipe Herrera ; illustrated by Raúl Colón
by Aless Baylis ; illustrated by Aless Baylis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2017
An excellent starter book for those looking to raise their children in a bilingual environment.
Niñas y niños learn their ABCs en español.
A is for ardilla (squirrel) and E is for erizo (hedgehog) in this pastel-colored board book. Each page features a different animal or object with a large, scratchily drawn uppercase letter in the top-left corner. (All the text appears to be hand-drawn and frequently displays irregular use of upper- and lowercase conventions.) The upper-right corner of the page spotlights the item’s Spanish and English names, with Spanish printed large on top and English in a smaller hand beneath. The illustrations are warm and sweet, presenting rounded, friendly figures colored with pastel hues. Even inanimate objects, such as the wafle (waffle) and the uvas (grapes), are given smiling faces and welcoming body language. There are separate entries for N for “niña/niño” (“girl/boy”) and Ñ for ñu (translated as “wildebeest” rather than “gnu”). It appears that X (xilófono) and Y (yak) are as troublesome for abecederaries in Spanish as in English. After the alphabet is finished, the backmatter provides the pronunciation of each letter for non–Spanish speakers and phonetic spelling for each creature along with the further introduction of the sounds ll, ch, and rr. The book is handsomely bound in faux hardcover style, boasting sturdy pages and smooth textures.
An excellent starter book for those looking to raise their children in a bilingual environment. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63322-283-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
illustrated by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius
by Samantha Chagollan ; illustrated by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius
illustrated by Daniel Roode
More by Alison Ritchie
BOOK REVIEW
by Alison Ritchie ; illustrated by Aless Baylis
by Sophia Danielsson-Waters ; illustrated by Sadie Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2017
A swell visual puzzle.
Little readers tour the town.
This pleasant board book is all about the sights and sounds of a small, middle-class town. Little readers thumb through various street scenes, visiting the park, the beach, a train station, and more. Each scene offers a few visual puzzles for little ones. A giant high-heeled shoe blends in with the slides on the playground. An oversized piece of toast sits among the houses on a street. Readers are encouraged to spot what doesn’t belong as well as to count items, spot differences, trace fingers on paths, and more. Humans are absent from the busy photo collages, but a small teddy bear in blue overalls acts as guide, and other animals and birds (and a dinosaur) add further visual interest. A similar title, Building Site, is concurrently published and uses this same concept and visual style to tour a construction site; its guide is a toy figure with light-brown skin wearing a hard hat. Caregivers will find either book an excellent companion for car rides, doctor visits, and shopping trips.
A swell visual puzzle. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5599-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.