A tenderly triumphant tale of overcoming language barriers.
A young Latine boy struggles to speak Spanish with his grandmother.
Every Sunday, Max helps Abuela bake. His grandmother speaks only Spanish, but they communicate through the sweet treats they whip up: polvorones, cocadas, and tres leches. Plus, they have help from Abuela’s bilingual parrot, Lorito, who squawks reminders about what ingredients they need ("Arroz," "Leche"). Max knows he should try harder to speak Spanish, but his cousins make fun of him, which makes him self-conscious. “My Rs won’t roll. My words knot in my throat,” Max says. One Sunday, Lorito is at church (he likes to perch nearby and sing along to hymns), so Max and Abuela are on their own. Max confronts his fears and attempts to speak Spanish as they prepare arroz con leche—rice pudding—for a competition at the county fair. This time, he bridges the gap and bonds with Abuela in a new way: “My words tumble out dry and rusty, but I don’t mind anymore.” Galotta’s watercolor illustrations are warm and inviting, especially the depictions of Lorito, who’s by turn wise and endearing. With its effective use of figurative language, Aldeman’s matter-of-factly reassuring text will especially resonate with bilingual children feeling intimidated speaking their non-native tongue.
A tenderly triumphant tale of overcoming language barriers. (author’s note, glossary, recipe for Lorito’s arroz con leche) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781623543921
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
