The United States is filled with many cultures and languages, all residing together beneath one flag. One of the most common languages spoken after English is Spanish, and many families speak both languages in one home. Books that are bilingual English/Spanish have emerged in recent years to support children learning both Spanish and English, no matter what the primary language spoken in their household happens to be. This book list includes a selection of noteworthy bilingual titles that are geared toward readers ages 4-7. From folklore to friendship, the books listed here showcase Spanish and English together in a delightfully accessible way. Contributed by: Mary Lanni
Abuela
By: Arthur Dorros
Illustrated by: Eliza Kleven
Somersaulting in midair, resting in the sky on a chair-shaped cloud… A little girl and her grandmother, her abuela, soar in this adventure of the imagination as they fly around New York City. In English, with Spanish words and phrases woven into the story, includes a glossary.
Children read aloud in various settings to celebrate El día de los niños, or Children’s Day, in this bilingual story. Includes facts about Mexico’s annual celebration of children and the book fiestas that are often included.
In this whimsical bilingual picture book, Dalia’s hair becomes a magical force of nature, a life-giving cocoon. Author and illustrator Laura Lacámara once again delight children ages 4-9 with her vibrant illustrations and an imaginative story about a girl’s fanciful encounters with nature.
Doña Flor, a giant lady with a big heart, sets off to protect her neighbors from what they think is a dangerous animal but soon discovers the tiny secret behind the huge noise.
Children discover a world of colors all around them. Many of the featured objects are Latino in origin, but all are universal in appeal. A short glossary explains the cultural significance of the colored objects featured in this book.
Mia’s abuela has left her sunny house with parrots and palm trees to live with Mia and her parents in the city. The night she arrives, Mia tries to share her favorite book with Abuela before they go to sleep and discovers that Abuela can’t read the words inside. So, while they cook, Mia helps Abuela learn English (“Dough. Masa”), and Mia learns some Spanish too, but it’s still hard for Abuela to learn the words she needs to tell Mia all her stories. Then Mia sees a parrot in the pet-shop window and has the perfecto idea for how to help them all communicate a little better. An endearing tale from an award-winning duo that speaks loud and clear about learning new things and the love that bonds family members.
In this bilingual version of the classic rhyme set in Peru, Maria takes her llama to school one day.
Not a Bean
By: Claudia Guadalupe Martínez
Illustrated by: Laura Gonzalez
With Spanish vocabulary and a clever counting concept, this poetic story shares the life cycle of a Mexican jumping bean. This curious jumping insect is actually a seedpod from a shrub called yerba de la flecha, into which a caterpillar burrows, living inside the pod until it builds a cocoon and breaks out as a moth. Perfect for preschoolers and pre-readers, this creative picture book explores the Mexican jumping bean’s daily life and eventual transformation and escape from the pod.
Our Celebración!
By: Susan Middleton Elya
Illustrated by: Ana Aranda
It’s a sunny summer day. Come join the crowd headed for the parade! Marvel at the people riding motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, and unicycles. Duck out of the way as firefighters spray water on hot spectators. Clap to the music as bands of musicians playing clarinetes, saxophones, flautas, trumpets, and drums march by. Feast on lemonade, watermelon, tacos, and ice cream. Wave to the corn princess as her float passes by. Then, take cover when a quick rain shower comes, followed by a bright rainbow. Back in the town plaza as night falls, marvel at the sparkling fireworks that end the day’s festivities. Pop, pop, pop! ¡Bón, bón, bón!
With engaging text and imaginative, whimsical illustrations, Our Celebración! is the perfect way to enjoy a summer day—and learn some Spanish too.
A rhyming, Latino twist on a classic fairy tale in which a queen places a pea under a young lady’s mattress to see if she is truly a princess. Incorporates Spanish words, includes a glossary, and features artwork inspired by the culture of Peru.
Rainbow Weaver
By: Linda Elovitz Marshall
Illustrated by: Elisa Chavarri
Ixchel wants to follow in the long tradition of weaving on backstrap looms, just as her mother, grandmother, and most Mayan women have done for more than two thousand years. But Ixchel’s mother is too busy preparing her weavings for the market. Disappointed, Ixchel first tries weaving with blades of grass, and then with bits of wool, but no one would want to buy the results. As she walks around her village, Ixchel finds it littered with colorful plastic bags. There is nowhere to put all the bags, so they just keep accumulating. Suddenly, Ixchel has an idea! She collects and washes the plastic bags. Then she cuts each bag into thin strips. Sitting at her loom, Ixchel weaves the plastic strips into a colorful fabric that looks like a beautiful rainbow—just like the weavings of Mayan women before her.
When a man brings to a remote village two burros, Alfa and Beto, loaded with books the children can borrow, Ana’s excitement leads her to write a book of her own as she waits for the BiblioBurro to return. Includes a glossary of Spanish terms and a note on the true story of Columbia’s BiblioBurro and mobile libraries in other countries.
It’s October and for many people that means carved pumpkins, kids in costumes trick-or-treating, and spooky stories. Speaking of spooky stories, I’ve got a few to share.
This story is about a young man named Hans. After Hans’ beloved father dies he journeys to “make his way in the world.” Along the way he sees interesting characters, such as the goblin in the church tower, elves playing in the forest, and trolls. Good natured Hans knows God will take care of him on his journey, but of course evil lurks. It always does in any spooky story. Hans gains a travelling companion as he continues his journey and he also becomes intrigued with a beautiful yet cruel princess. Suitors have tried to win the princess’s heart, but to do so, they must answer three questions that the princess poses. If they can, they will be her husband and future king. So far, no suitor has been able to answer her questions, and not only does the suitor not marry the princess, he is also hanged, by order of the princess. You see, this princess is cruel because she practices witchcraft and follows the order of a wicked troll who tells her the questions to pose to each suitor. When Hans decides to pursue the princess, his challenge is to guess three things that the princess is thinking, over the course of three days. If Hans cannot, he will be hanged in the princess’s garden like the other suitors and per the troll’s special request, his eyeballs are to be extracted so the troll can eat them. Gruesome enough yet? To the surprise of the princess, with the help of Hans’ companion who is very resourceful through his own magic, Hans guesses all three of the items the princess is thinking. The last item she was thinking, again by the troll’s request, was the troll’s head. Not only does Hans tell the princess it was the head, his travelling companion has secured the troll’s head and given it to Hans hidden in a cloth. Hans then opens the cloth and the princess is horrified. After Hans and the wicked princess marry, his travelling companion helps him abolish the princess’s wickedness through a scary bath scene and they live happily ever after.(1)
That was spooky, right? Well, I did leave out a few details such as how the travelling companion “struck the troll’s head right off his shoulders with his sword,” how the travelling companion was actually a dead man who Hans had helped early in his journey, and the scary bath scene.
Here’s another spooky story. Once upon a time there was a rich man, but he was considered ugly for his beard was blue. He decided he needed a wife and asked a neighbor woman if he could marry one of her daughters. Neither daughter wanted to marry the man, as they did not like his blue beard and found it strange that the man had been married many times, yet no one knew what had become of the past wives. The man invites his neighbor, her daughters, and others to a week-long party. After getting to know the man better, the neighbor’s youngest daughter decides he isn’t so bad after all and will marry him. A little while after the marriage, the man goes on a trip while his young wife remains at the home. The husband had given his wife a set of keys to keep in his absence. The keys were to his warehouses which contained many treasures. However, there was one key, a very small one that opened a closet, that he told her never to use. While the man is gone, his wife opens all the doors except the closet. But after a while the temptation to open the closet was too much for her. The wife opened the door to find all of the man’s previous wives, scattered on the floor, dead. When her husband returns he notices a stain on the small key and knew his wife had disobeyed him. Can you guess what happens next? There is a twist but it’s still scary before the final scene.(2)
Want to hear some more spooky plots? If so, visit the 398.2 section in juvenile nonfiction. It is there that you will find the stories you read above, plus even more stories about cruel stepmothers, wicked trolls, and dastardly fates. Although, unless you pick up the original stories, you will find most of the tales on current bookshelves quite a bit tamer.You probably will not find the Brothers Grimm’s telling of How Some Children Played Slaughtering. It appeared in the original 1812 compilation of tales. The plot for How Some Children Played Slaughtering- the entire family dies. I’m going to leave out the gory details as to how but I’m sure you can determine someone’s fate just by the title. As the Grimm Brothers tales became more widely read, they published revised copies that included newer tales, dropped some tales, and tamed many. This was done to increase their popularity and reach a broader audience. The copies continued to be revised and the final 1857 edition’s stories had more religious aspects and less fairies and immoral acts (to some extent). However, once vicious acts such as rape were deleted, other acts of violence increased. Some of the most brutal reads are: The Girl Without Hands (dad was the bad one in this story), The Three Snake Leaves, The Hare’s Bride, The Singing Bone, The Death of the Little Hen, The Robber Bridegroom, The Juniper Tree, and The Goose Girl. These tales were chronicled by not only the Brothers Grimm but also various people across Europe.
While we associate these tales with children’s literature, the original stories were geared toward adult audiences. They were first passed down orally, reflective of individual cultures. One only needs to study the many different Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood tales based on geography to get a snapshot of the uniqueness of a region. The origin of the tales may have also been for behavior modification in children and apparently wives. What child wouldn’t behave properly if there was the chance of being left in the woods to be eaten by a witch? Not many. Regardless of country of origin, pivotal to most tales is good versus evil, with good eventually winning in most of the tales.
At this point you’re probably thinking forget Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If I want a spooky, scary, keep-you-up-all-night story, I’m checking out Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Andrew Lang and Brothers Grimm. I would have to agree with you. I would also advise reading with many lights on. One never knows what could be lurking behind the closet door or if a troll may be peeking into the window.
(1) The Travelling Companion by Hans Christian Andersen (2) Blue Beard by Charles Perrault
The Aesop Prize recognizes exceptional books, for children or young adults, that are based on folklore. The folklore must be accurately presented in the text and illustrations and add to the reader’s understanding of folklore.
2017 Winner
Noodleheads See the Future
By: Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, and Mitch Weiss
Illustrated by: Tedd Arnold
Inspired by folktales about fools from around the world, brothers Mac and Mac Noodlehead exasperate Uncle Ziti, are fooled by their friend Meatball, and make a garden for their mother.
Lupe Impala, Elirio Malaria, and El Chavo Octopus are now the proud owners of their own garage–but when a series of earthquakes hit their town and Genie, their beloved cat, disappears they find themselves traveling to the realm of Mictlantecuhtli, Aztec god of the Underworld, who is keeping Genie prisoner.
Modern-day demigod Percy Jackson tells the origin stories of major Greek heroes, including Perseus, Bellerophon, and Atalanta, while offering his own personal take on his ancient associates.
