IN SPRING / EN PRIMAVERA

A bilingual English/Spanish board book about spring.

This book features photographs of a brown-skinned little tot with a big smile and a head of curly hair. Each double-page spread starts with the repeating opener “In spring…” followed by some feature associated with the season. “Seeds grow. / I want to grow like a seed!” As the little child stretches both arms overhead, the text reads, “Don’t you think I make a good seed?” or, with lips puckered to whistle, “Birds sing. / I want to sing like a bird / Don’t you think I make a good bird?” The Spanish equivalent follows the English text: “En primavera… / Las semillas crecen. / ¡Quiero crecer como una semilla! / ¿A que sería una buena semilla?” Not all the elements explored are necessarily exclusive to spring, though. Rainbows paint the sky, bunnies hop, and birds sing in other seasons beside spring. And things may splash into puddles, but puddles don’t splash of their own volition. So when the text reads, “In spring… / Puddles splash. / I want to splash like a puddle!” it is giving readers misleading information. Though these are not fatal flaws, it is nevertheless a pity, as there is so very little in board-book format that covers the seasons in Spanish.

Unfortunately, not a first-choice purchase.