Review by Booklist Review
The team behind the Pura Belpré Honor Book, Green Is a Chile Pepper (2014), returns with another bilingual concept book about counting. Thong's poem introduces counting words in English and Spanish, while Parra's bold, warmly painted illustrations vividly capture the culture and customs, from maracas to calaveras, piñatas to velas. Each rhyming verse presents a number, with terms in Spanish highlighted in bold font. The spreads include illustrations that match the number in each rhyme, inviting readers to explore and count the images throughout each page. Readers will also find other elements of Latinx culture, enabling them to learn beyond numbers. Parra's paintings are full of life, matching the text and enhancing the narrative. There is a counting exercise at the end of the story and a list of translated terms in the glossary, making this an easy language-learning tool. A nice pairing with Virginia Kroll´s Uno, Dos, Tres, Posada! (2006), Patty Rodriguez' Counting with Frida (2014), and Susie Jaramillo's Little Skeletons Countdown to Midnight (2017) and its accompanying app.--Vivian Alvarez Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this festive counting book, a companion to Round Is a Tortilla and Green Is a Chile Pepper, children take part in casual activities and attend joyful celebrations within their Spanish-speaking community. Parra's paintings feature clear-cut, folk art-style figures and shapes, while tiny details (flowers and planets, a mouse peering from a hole) add ornamental charm. Thong introduces Spanish vocabulary words from one to 10: "Five beach palapas./ Five boats in the bay./ Five hammocks swinging/ on a lazy day." she writes in sunny, rhyming verses as children are pictured reclining on hammocks hung between palm trees. Elsewhere, masked figures appear in a Day of the Dead parade: "Seven calaveras to put on display!" From one to 10, this addition to a beautiful series brightly conveys the delight to be found in family, friends, and neighborhood gatherings. Ages 5-6. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-This companion to Green Is a Chile Pepper and Round Is a Tortilla makes learning numbers in English and in Spanish a fun fiesta for young readers. Through rhyming stanzas, children can count from one to 10, using bolillos, burbujas, paraguas, and calaveras along the way. Each number has its own theme, representing a year's worth of seasonal pastimes and festivals. The book is playful and fun to read and offers plenty of opportunities for bilingual vocabulary development, incorporating recognizable symbols of Latinx cultural heritage. Short, catchy text will hold the attention of very young learners and add to the book's buoyant appeal. Brightly colored, animated illustrations blend the imaginative with the realistic and complement the singsong rhythm, with words and pictures evenly placed throughout. Colors are vibrant, with a diversity of skin tones represented. Plenty of space around the text will facilitate letter recognition and comprehension for beginning readers; Spanish and English words are woven together seamlessly, accurately relating concepts in both languages. VERDICT An obvious choice for any picture book collection, this book teaches counting skills and new words while celebrating -Hispanic and Latinx culture.-Natalie -Romano, -Denver Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Readers count up from one piata to 10 friends at a fiesta. The numbers are introduced, in English, in erratically metered three- or four-line stanzas. "Two are maracas / we shake to the beat. / Two are zapatos / on my feet." The Spanish number names appear only under the indicated numeralnone are included in any of the verses even though there are 10 opportunities to give the Spanish nmeros equal billing alongside their English equivalents, a lapse also seen in Thong's two previous concept books, Round Is a Tortilla (2013) and Green Is a Chile Pepper (2014). It's an odd choice, as Spanish vocabulary building is a principal focus of the series. There are also incidences of cultural dissonance, as in the spread that counts "Six kinds of salsa / to pour on rice"an extremely irregular way to serve Mexican rice. The glossary omits the Feast of the Three Kings despite a banner that reads "Feliz da de Reyes!" In addition, it reinforces the incorrect Anglicized pronunciation of basic words, indicating, for instance, "NOO-bays" instead of "NOO-behs" (nubesclouds) and "peen-YAH-tah" instead of the correct "pee-NYAH-tah" (piata). Diphthongs are ignored altogether: The three-syllable "fee-EHST-ah" is used instead of the correct, two-syllable "FYEHS-tah" (fiesta). Parra's simple matte characters introduced in the previous titles in this series provide continuity and familiarity.Despite its flaws, this uneven offering still serves to introduce numbers bilingually. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
