Title: Hello Night
Author: Amy Costales
Illustrator: Mercedes McDonald
This is a
simple children’s book about a child and his mother that go out for a walk at
night. He greets all the things that he sees on his walk. I really enjoyed the
way the sentences rhyme in both languages. It is a good way to get a feeling
for the patterns and intonations of each language. The illustrations were also
well done and relaxing because of their rather vague quality. I enjoyed the
connections the book made to the enjoyment nature and life but there were not a
lot of cultural aspects to the book (besides the fact that it is bilingual).
The language is very very simple and so I
would use this book in early elementary classes. I think it could also be used
in beginning Spanish classes as well to help students build vocabulary and
learn the patterns of Spanish and compare its sentence structure with that of
English. I would use it mostly in a group reading situation or in
partner/individual reading activities in a beginning Spanish class.
This is the second book that sounds like it would be great for teaching young students about the Spanish language.
ReplyDeleteRhyming sentences in both languages is a very creative touch for Costales and offers itself to a very diverse reading group.