Ready for our latest selection of bilingual picture books? From a pair of brothers with different tastes in birthday parties to a loving home and neighborhood to an origin myth about how the Day of the Dead came to be, our fall titles have a little something for everyone!
A Bean and Cheese Taco Birthday / Un cumpleaños con tacos de frijoles con queso
Seven-year-old Dario is excited about his brother’s upcoming fifth birthday. He can’t wait for the party, and imagines one similar to his own with lots of friends and presents.
So he’s surprised when Ariel requests a simple celebration at the park eating bean and cheese tacos and blowing bubbles. “But, Ariel,” he asks, “don’t you want to go somewhere special on your birthday?” It doesn’t seem like a party to Dario without video games and pizza!
On Ariel’s birthday, the boys are happy to go to the park rather than their usual after-school program. The day is full of surprises, from Ariel’s birthday present—a remote-control sailboat they enjoy playing with at the pond—to an empty playground and even a kind park ranger who offers a tour in his Jeep. Who would have thought an afternoon at the park with family and bean and cheese tacos could be so much fun?
Kids will begin eagerly planning their own birthday celebrations after reading this engaging book by acclaimed children’s book author Diane Gonzales Bertrand. She once again entertains young readers ages 4 to 8 with a sweet story about the joys of time spent with family and the surprises that come from making assumptions.
The Place Where You Live / El lugar donde vives
Young children will delight in reading this simple rhyming text with a recurring refrain that describes a loving home and neighborhood. There’s the garden, “alive and green / with peppers and squash that you planted in spring,” the neighbor who trades sweet cornbread for Grandma’s home-made tortillas and the library where kids read about voyages, magic and giants.
There’s the school where friends play, learn and grow, and the park where kids swing, slide, laugh and climb, all in “the place where you live.” And at the end of a long day, Mamá and Papá hug you tight because “you make them so glad.”
Lively illustrations in vibrant colors bring to life award-winning children’s book author James Luna’s affectionate tribute to home. This charming bilingual book will encourage young children to talk—and even write—about their own families, neighborhoods and homes.
The Remembering Day / El Día de los muertos
Long, long, long ago, Bella and her grandmother Mamá Alma admired their vegetable garden. They liked gardening together. They grew sunflowers and lilies too, and chatted with lizards and hummingbirds. They walked around the flowers and vegetables holding hands, something they had done frequently since Bella was a baby. As her grandmother aged, Bella helped her to walk. “Every year, I need your help more and more,” said Mamá Alma.
Sitting on their favorite rock, they remembered how Mamá Alma carried Bella to show her the sun and everything that grew in its powerful rays: trees, cacti, corn and flowers. The oldest and wisest woman in the village, she taught her granddaughter to sing, tell stories and weave. Mamá Alma is pleased that Bella has become the best healer in the village, the one everyone comes to for help with a sick bird or a stomach ache. Mamá Alma tells her granddaughter to remember their happy times together and to plan an annual “remembering day,” a special time to think about her when she is gone.
In this special bilingual picture book for children, acclaimed author Pat Mora creates an origin myth in which she imagines how the Mexican custom of remembering deceased loved ones—El día de los muertos or the Day of the Dead—came to be. With tender illustrations by Robert Casilla that depict Bella and Mamá Alma’s loving relationship, this book will encourage children to honor loved ones, whether by writing stories and poems or creating their own remembering place.