Rating: 4 stars
The cover of this book is like an gorgeous invitation to any book-loving kid out there. It is bright and cheerful, and shows kids romping and reading together. It was peeking out at me in the Bilingual section of our library this afternoon as Lorelei and I sat during our "girls outing" that often happens during Ben's Saturday afternoon nap.
The book is about Children's Day, or El dia de los ninos and also Book Day, El Dia do los libros. It is a sweet poem that originally was a song that Pat Mora wrote. In the pages of this wonderful book he expands on the song and celebrates children and books together--because he thinks, as I sure do, that the two go hand-in-hand. "Hooray! Today is our day. / El dia de los ninos! / Let's have fun today reading our favorite books. / We read in English and Spanish, / in Chinese and Navajo too. / We read by ourselves, / we read with a friend."The text is fine. But the pictures! Oh my gosh. Pictures of kids just reading: their noses joyfully buried in their books, sitting side by side with a pal reading together, carefully balanced on the statue outside the library reading. They are excitedly running to the library, acting out the story their parents are reading to them. They read in cars, and planes, and trains, in the garden, an elephant, and even in a whale's mouth! (Lorelei found this one pretty captivating.) I can't say enough about how much I love the illustrations.
I really wish there was more text (which is, by the way, in both English and Spanish), a little more explaining of El dia de los ninos... At the end of the book, in an author's note, Pat Mora encourages people to have book fiestas of their own. It's an inspiring little section of how to bring books to life, and another reason to read this great book.
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