Author/Illustrator: Taro Gomi
Publisher: Chronicle Books, English 1990/Spanish 2006
Age Level: 4-8
Themes: growth, animals, Spanish language materials-bilingual
Opening: I Learned to walk from my friend the cat. De mi amigo el gato aprendi a caminar.
Summary: A little girl learns to walk climb and study the earth with help form her friends most of which are animals.
Poor scan – sorry!
Why I like this book: I can’t say I have seen many appealing bilingual books, but I also haven’t been searching them out. The vibrantly colors and simple forms are brilliantly composed in what might be the perfect book to introduce young readers to bilingual language skills – even for me! (I am still grateful to my great second grade teacher, Mrs. Beck, for teaching us Spanish songs!) I’ve just discovered this is the same author behind a rather famous book – Everybody Poops; he has over 400 titles to his credit, so I shouldn’t have trouble finding more!
Resources/Activities: Talk about friendship; What is a friend? How do you make friends? What can you do with a friend? Can you have more than one?
While we’re on the subject of Perfect Picture Books, I’d like to show you a book I found in the World Languages/Spanish section of my library, that I fell in love with, despite not being able to decipher all the words:
Author/Illustrator: Guido Van Genechten
Publisher: Editorial Juventud, 2002; originally published in Dutch by Clavis Vitgevereij, 1997
Age Level: 2 and up
Themes: new boots
Opening: Jan tiene unas botas NUEVAS.
Summary: A little boy explores his surroundings in his new boots.
Why I like this book: The cover is cute, but the red end pages with hats and planes folded from newspaper sold me! And because the concept is simple, and simply delightful! Read a great interview from someone who must have understood all the words at Little Book Bugs.
For more PPBF picks, go to Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog – HERE
julie rowan-zoch 
Thanks for the link, Julie! Interesting to see that you can fall in love with the book even if you don’t get all the text! van Genechten’s illustrations are so fun and, well, friendly, that I’m just not surprised! I’m planning a post on some wordless picture books by him, so I’ll keep you posted.
Take care, Kai
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I look forward to it, Kai.
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They look so cute and simple. I never thought to get a bilingual one before to practise Spanish, great idea. And maybe kids would like it too 😉
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Sí, sí, mi querida!
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Gracias!
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Bilingual books are wonderful. They are used in many schools for dual language programs. When I sold books, companies seemed to be expanding the nonfiction selection, but there weren’t a lot of picture books. This looks like a good one.
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Have you done a post of bookselling tales? Me interesaría!
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Julie, these are great finds! My boys are taking Spanish in school, so I’m always interested in bilingual books.
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BTW, Just found a book I thought your boys would like, though not bilingual: Super Submarines, by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker.
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Two good bi-lingual books. I like the Dutch one in particular, since I have never seen one in print. It’s so important for children to learn a new language in early elementary school. Statistics show the earlier you learn another language, the easier it is to learn others later on in life. I learned French in my public school’s kindergarten class. To this day, I love French, although I don’t have the opportunity to use it. My teens are using Rosetta Stone French in our home education. I hope they will have the chance to use it someday!
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I’d be interested to know how you like the Rosetta program. My father kept some french picture books that I poured over when I was very young – which was probably why I chose to take French in HS, but never really learned to speak it well. I learned German as an exchange student, and lucky for me I have a great group of German friends that I meet up with at least once a month, since my German husband couldn’t be bothered!
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Thanks for the recommendation, do you think it is too late for my 14 and 16 year old sons? They need all the help they can get in Spanish;)
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I’d suggest a good teacher. Though my kids never took HS Spanish, they certainly heard about the teachers!
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I like that is has direct translation into Spanish versus the “spanglish” approach some books take.
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I agree, Lauri, that it is better not to imply direct translation, but I also think it’s good to sprinlke words, to awaken interest where there might not have been.
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I want those red BOOTS! I have looked at a lot of bilingual books, and agree that the quality is not always what I would hope. it’s great to see My Friend/Mis Amigos seems a good Sp/Eng choice.
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I love that he loves his boots – I love my knee high rubber ones too!
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I like good bilingual books. So simple. The first one looks like something you’d illustrate. Good books for the classroom. Also like your new header.
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I can only hope to ever come close to the perfect simplicity of his artwork! I don’t have any crocus showing blooms yet – but I thought it was okay to ‘force’ a few bulbs!
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This book sounds GREAT! Teaching some language skills while using concepts that a child will readily identify with and enjoy. Love the look of the Red Boots book, too. (Like Joanna, I want those boots!)
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The boots are a hit! Maybe I’ll include my own boots in my next header.
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I also love the boots! It sounds like those are a couple of good books.
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I still need to find a translator for the boot story! I want someone to read it to me!
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I like bilingual books!! I read with a lot of Spanish speakers and they try to teach me Spanish. I know “Un perra bonita!” and “sientate!” And i like those red boots too! That book looks really cute! I’ll have to look for both of these! Thanks!
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Does that mean you are a girl, Rhythm?
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Si Senora!
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🙂
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I miss the sheep at the top 😦 but the tulips are beautiful and delightfully springy 🙂 Love the look of both these books, although I wouldn’t get very far deciphering the second one (but I LOVE those boots!)
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I got to use some sheep in a congratulatory msg to a friend whose ewe just had twins today! They enjoyed having a purpose!
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Have you read I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada? The Cuban-born author writes books featuring the Latino culture. This picture book tells of a young girl who enjoys the similarities and differences between her English-speaking and Spanish-speaking grandparents. Although I Love Saturdays y domingos is written mostly in English, the conversations between the main character and her Spanish-speaking grandparents are in Spanish.
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Great top page! 😀 Great choices too! 😀
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May have forced my bulbs too early – it’s snowing again!
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