This is a must have for any chicano especially with kids. It is a magnificant piece of art that allows us to talk to our kids and others about our latino heritage in the agricultural fields of America. I bought this book because I am a fan of Simon Silva's art work and this book is like having a selection of his prints to display on the coffee table instead of the wall. It is a great conversational piece as art or history, as a tool to teach our personal heritage or as an educational piece for those of different ethnic backgrounds, and last but not least it is great for young and old. I love it!

This book is not only a wonderful cultural asset it is very pleaseing to the eyes and the spirit. Children will learn valuable knowledge about the cultures the surround us and not even know they are leaning, beacause of all the beautiful drawings. You will read this again and again. I often use just one page in storytime and it sparks a whole hour of interest.

In this alphabet book, the author combines an alphabetic list of bilingual poems depicting themes of harvest, work, values, and home that both honor and celebrate the lives of migrant farmworkers. The book describes Spanish traditions and the Mexican heritage of the farmworkers with their families while introducing the letters of the alphabet in both English and Spanish. Each poem is presented first in Spanish and then in English. Zubizarreta's English poem on each page is not an exact word for word translation of its Spanish counterpart, but it translates the mood and essence of the original Spanish poem's message. Each Spanish target word describes how the plant, fruit, vegetable, person, or feeling relates to the lives of the workers. The illustrator, Simon Silva uses vibrant paintings portraying their farmlands and lives at work and at home. This alphabet book has great significance, because the poetry gives voice and pride to the experiences of Hispanic agricultural workers. The poems give strong mind pictures by using descriptive words that are attractive and meaningful to the experiences of the farmworkers. This book should be read aloud to a bilingual group of students by a reader who can skillfully use both languages to communicate the moods, otherwise maybe just one language should be read at a time. Adults as well as children will appreciate the poetry and artwork as well as the music that supplements this collection by Suni Paz. She captures the "Hispanic heart" with Spanish guitar music repeating phrases from the Spanish poetry.

My son loves this book as a must read every morning when he wakes up and every night before he goes to bed. We love searching for the mouse and the flea and seeing the movement of the characters before they end up on the bed or off of it. The colors and the change from night to day are so smooth you almost dont notice it.

Spanish is our native language and we speak Spanish at home so that our kids learn both Spanish and English. This book is a simple story with rather rich language, my daughter got 3 or 4 words she had never heard before. Besides, my daughter loves the story and the pictures; she likes to look for the mouse and the 'pulga' in all of the pages.

The language is simple and repeptitive, making this a great book to teach Spanish in Elementary and Middle grades. Illustrations are great. It's also a good book for native speakers practicing reading. I use it as a check-out book for English as a Second Language students, to motivate literacy acquisition.

The Gold Coin is the story of Juan, a thief of experience, and his journey to find an old woman who gives away gold coins. In his quest to find her to steal away her assumed riches, Juan is forced to experience the helpfulness of strangers, depend on their kindness and enjoy with them the feeling of an honest day's labor. By the end of his travels, he has been transformed by the goodness of the people he has met. When he finally comes face to face with the woman he had intended to rob, he is a different person. Instead of taking her gold, Juan offers to mend her roof. He learns that giving to others allows him to feel rich. The Gold Coin is a great story to read aloud. It is warm and inspiring.

Alma Flor Ada is an author who writes both in Spanish and English. Her work focuses on action over description. Her communication of the values and qualities of the culture in which she immerses her readers makes her books notable. The Gold Coin tells of a man who is twisted in body and spirit until he is transformed by honest hard work, and caring decent people. The reader is introduced to an inspirational character, Dona Josefa. Although the thief doesn't meet her until the end of the story, it is her model of goodness that shines throughout the story. The illustrations admirably reflect the changes the thief undergoes as his body becomes straighter and his face less pale and angry. There are many surprises seeded throughout the story and the ending is wonderfully satisfying. Although this is an original tale, the writing has the flavor of a folktale and the culture and landscape of Central America are authentically portrayed.

This is a wonderful picture book, both the writing and the illustrations. It's about the cruelty and foolishness of snobbery. A very sweet little princess is kept inside the palace gates because the queen, the governess and the lady-in-waiting think she is too good to be mixing in with the riff-raff rabble kids outside the gates. She's not happy. One day the queen and her cronies trap a bird that has flown in to the palace but it isn't happy and starts to deteriorate, so the little princess helps it escape. In the process the princess makes a very important change in the way she is treated. The illustrations of this little princess are just perfect and they capture her emotions in such detail. The illustrations glow with a soft light and the deep green walls of the malachite palace add magic to the pictures and also a sort of innocence. This is a book that shows the strength that a child can have when they decide to live up to their true nature and think for themselves. It should help kids see that they can come up with ideas on their own for doing the right thing and that sometimes grown-ups can make mistakes. I love this book.

"The Malachite Palace" is a beautiful book about friendship and respect. The little princess is not allowed to play with the common children outside because they are "rude" and "ignorant", according to her lady-in-waiting, governess, and the queen. One day she finds a little yellow bird, and decides to keep it for a friend. But being in the cage makes the little bird weak and sad, and the princess must find a way to set the bird free, and in doing so, show the women that watch over her that she cannot grow or be happy unless she is allowed to have friends.

The illustrations in this book are exquisite, almost ethereal. It is a treasure for any children's library, and sure to be a favorite.

As a teacher I love folk tales. This one if one of my favorites. The story is about a rooster who is on his way to his uncle's wedding. He is dresses in his finest until he gets his beak dirty. Children will love the event series as one event leads into another. The pictures are very beautiful and colorful. This is a story that children of all ages will want to read again and again

A great humorus book. All children would understand the logic behind the events that occur. To hear all of the characters say "No I won't. Why should I", Gave the book a good sense of childish humor. Makes a great sequencing activity for students.

This colorfully illustrated book, written about twins, Connie and Diego, is a "must" for young children. The illustrator creatively portrays the main characters as having skin that is made up of many colors-the twins don't feel that they belong in their family or community because they "look" different. Their friends make fun of them, and the twins run away. They encounter many different looking animals of different colors on their journey. Connie and Diego never are able to find anyone or anything that look just like them. A tiger is able to make them realize that they are humans, regardless of their color, they are valuable to each other because of WHO they are-not because of what COLOR they are. A wonderful story for all youngsters!

This book unites many favorite fairytale characters. The story is told in letter form only, with such memoriable letter writers as Peter Rabbit, Goldilocks, one of The Three Little Pigs, Farmer McGregor's Daughter, and the Big Bad Wolf among others. It is an interesting tale connected by the letters. You revisit old favorites but with a twist as you discover how they become connected making a new and interesting tale. This is a great story to show letter writing and still connect with old and familar fairytales.

The level one books of the Dejame Leer series are perfect forthe beginning reader of Spanish. The text is repetative, simple andpredictable. The pictures help direct the text. I have purchased several of these for my bilingual kindergarten classroom. They will allow the students successful reading experiences. The price is also excellent for a hardback book!

Este hermosisimo libro, esta lleno de imagenes espectaculares y que, al mismo tiempo, le dejan espacio a la imaginacion. Me encanta fantasear con mi niña sobre todas las cosas maravillosas que realmente pasaron cuando ella llego a nuestras vidas. Lo mejor del libro es que cada padre, le encontrara un significado personal y diferente. Y lo convertira en algo escrito especialmente para su hijo. El texto es muy conmovedor y siempre sientes que esta escrito especialmente para ti. Es de esos libros que uno se llevaria a una isla desierta sin lugar a dudas.

Overall, this was an excellent book. It does not differ much from the english version, and it is, as is the english, wonderfully illustrated. It is not perfect, however. I thought that it was well translated into spanish, however, the words are not as easily read and understood as the english version. Also, it was very disappointing to me that the character's names are the traditional, english names, and were not translated into their spanish cognates. That detracts from any feelings of non-ethnicity and partiality that good literature nees.

This is a great book for those of us who want to raise our children bilingually and equally wonderful for Spanish-speakers. The Spanish is fun--I also love the repetition of "el día terrible, horrible..." The fact that the names are not translated is fine--not all English names have a Spanish translation and vice-versa. I believe it keeps the integrity of the original version and the Alexander character.

Qué dice un niño al que TODO le sale mal ? "Me voy a Australia !". Los dibujos - en blanco y negro - están espléndidamente ilustrados, la cara de Alexander es indescriptible por su picardía. Un libro para leer y ver con los hijos a la hora de dormir. Un libro alentador, especial para aquellos niños "difíciles"