"Abuela" is a book by Arthur Dorros and illustrated by Elisa Kleven. The books is set in the fantastic and colorful place of New York City. The illustrations are absolutely incredible. The detail of the grandmother's clothing, the grass, the buildings, the brickwork, the birds and the clouds are outstanding. The illustrations are painted with acrylic and accented with different colored paper. My absolute favorite illustration is when the girl and her grandmother are in the Spanish grocery store. Behind the counter there are hundreds of packages of food, candles, cookies and candy. Each piece of food has a tiny label or picture on the front, making our supermarket experience a realistic one.

Evaluation

What I loved most about this book was the way in which the author incorporated the Spanish and the English language within the text. When the grandmother would say something in Spanish, the girl would repeat the same word in English. The Spanish vocabulary was also very basic-perfect for the elementary grade levels. Vocabulary words such as "pajaro, limonada, tia, tio, abuela, me gusta, un gato, un oso, adventura and many others were used throughout the book. These vocabulary words would be very easy for younger children to learn since they are written in the context of the book with beautiful illustrations to guide their meaning. This would be a perfect book to read to talk about the Spanish culture. It would also be a perfect book to read if you had a couple of Spanish speaking ESL learners within your classroom. I think all students would benefit from reading stories such as this one that illustrate, compare and contrast the American culture from the Spanish culture.

Arthur Dorros Author
Elisa Klevin Illustrator
Dutton Publisher
1991 Year