Malty the Blue Tiger / Marita la tigresita azul
This is a charming book that was sent to me by the author for review purposes! The first thing I love about this book is that it’s BILINGUAL! I have started to really like bilingual books. I am more likely to get my kids interested in a story if I can read it to them first in English. Then as they get used to the story-line, they’ll let me read it to them in Spanish.
As soon as this one came in the mail, my 4yo daughter declared it her book and she requested that I read it to her night after night (in English of course). The English version rhymes and is a very sweet story about a little tiger whose roar is not so well received by some and so she tries to change it to make friends. In the end of course she learns that being who she was made to be is better, and finding friends who value her unique characteristics are true friends. It reads very much like an Aesop fable!
This book also lends itself to teaching colors, numbers, and some simple vocabulary for Spanish-learners!
Yoon has just moved from Korea and has to learn how to write her name with different letters. She likes her name best the way it looks in her own language. Many days pass in her new school with Yoon wishing she was back in Korea, refusing to write her name YOON. Yoon eventually learns that even if she writes her name with the letters from this new place she lives, her name still means the same thing.
YouTube read aloud version here.
Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Spanish Edition)
Another book about loving your name! Alma doesn’t like how loooong her name is, until her father tells her all the wonderful stories of the people she is named after. Then she realizes her name is something to be very proud of!
El dÃa en que descubres quién eres (Spanish Edition)
The amazing talents of author Jacqueline Woodson and illustrator Rafael López come together in this delicate story of what it feels like to look different, talk different, be from somewhere different, and the bravery it takes to go forth anyways.
Crisantemo por Kevin Henkes (Spanish Edition)
Crisantemo doesn’t like her name! She wants to change it something shorter and more normal. Through the encouragement of her parents and teacher she realizes she has a beautiful name that she can feel confident to embrace.
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match / Marisol McDonald no combina (Bilingual)
We won all the Marisol McDonald books from a giveaway one year and we love them dearly! Marisol is like no one else and it doesn’t bother her a bit! Everyone around this sassy confident girl says that the way she does things doesn’t go together, but that doesn’t stop her from loving who she is. A great read for kids with bicultural identities! Or for anyone who needs to learn it’s GREAT to be YOU!
NadarÃn por Leo Lionni
NadarÃn is a little black fish in a school full of red ones. But his differences are something to be proud of, and in the end help him to protect those he lives with.
You can check out the YouTube read aloud version here. I love it especially because it’s read aloud by kids!
Wonder: Todos somos únicos por R.J. Palacio
Our family has been obsessed with Wonder lately. If you haven’t read the book (also available in Spanish) or watched the movie, I highly recommend it!!!
Designed for kids ages two to five, the same message comes across in this picture-book version of the original, with less words–but no less power. And what the words don’t express the vibrant, imaginative illustrations make up for.
This is a MUST-HAVE for your bilingual bookshelf.
What books would you add to this list?
