EIGHT ANIMALS PLAY BALL

¡Mira! Having gone On the Town (2000) and tried to Bake a Cake (2002) together, eight contentious friends rumble out to the parque to play. But what? Each has brought different equipment. Deftly folding Spanish words—translated in an opening glossary, in the rainbow borders around the glowing, smile-laden, folk-art-flavored paintings, and in context too—into her infectious rhyme, Elya takes her menagerie from quarrel to consensus, then through a spirited game of béisbol abruptly terminated by new squabbles and rain. But all differences are forgotten by the end, as “Caballo shares coats with both Perro and Gato / And Cerdo trades his coat for Vaca’s silbato,” so that “cozy and dry under wings and abrigos / they’re eight drip-dry friends, / That’s ocho amigos.” With a formula that shows no signs of wearing thin, this third episode again provides both a bridge between languages, and a lively take on conflict resolution. ¡Bueno! (Picture book. 6-8)