IN SUMMER / EN VERANO

As the title suggests, a bilingual Spanish/English board book about summer.

A child in a summery outfit celebrates activities that are nice to do in summer. Each double-page spread presents a photo of the child against a fuchsia-red background performing the activity in question, the simple, direct text following a repeating pattern: “In summer…I like to drink sweet lemonade!” (or “playing baseball,” “swimming in the sea,” etc.). This is followed by “Do you like lemonade?” (etc.). The accompanying Spanish text follows the same format: “En verano…¡Me gusta beber limonada dulce!” (or “jugar al béisbol,” “nadar en el mar,” etc.), to be followed by “¿Te gusta la limonada?” (etc.). The English text, printed in yellow, is easy to read; the Spanish text, unfortunately, is in a light blue that is harder to see against the bright background. The choice of the Spanish word “polo” for “ice pop” is puzzling, as even though it is correct, it is also not commonly used; the word “paleta” is more often heard. The book ends with a question that invites children to go beyond the book: “What do you like about summer?” “¿Qué te gusta del verano?” The child has long, dark hair and Asian features, wearing a bright floral-print romper throughout.

A cheery addition to the series.