Customer Reviews

¿Eres tu mi mamá?/Are You My Mother?

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I am a Spanish teacher and use "Eres tú mi mamá because the book is a great review for the preterite, imperfect and future. I have lessons designed for the verb grammar and my students really have fun reading a childhood story in Spanish that is so familiar to them in English. So if you want a fun way to review the past verb tenses and the future use this book and its video.

This is the same translator responsible for the dreadful Spanish version of The Cat in the Hat. His style of unimaginative transliteration, however, works much better for P.D. Eastman's simple, plain, prose than for Dr. Seuss' elaborate rhymes. He does manage to screw up the classic line "You are not my mother, you are a snort!", but most of the rest of the original comes through okay. Not quite as enjoyable to read aloud in Spanish as in English, but still fun.

Many kids, like I was once, learn visually to write well, so this book is a disappointment in that aspect. I have to buy a liquid for correction because I cannot give a book with SO MANY MISTAKES to my kid.

I opened the book and the big title in Spanish says: <<¿Eres tu mi mama?>>. It should be: "tú" (pronoun, no possessive); and "mamá", not 'mama' ('mama' in Spanish is => breast)

Page 5: <<-¡O! ¡O!- dijo la pájara-.>>. It should be: "¡Oh!" with H.

Page 7: <<Y se fué.>>. It should be: "fue", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 12: <<No la vió.>>. It should be "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 15: <<Y se fué.>>. It should be: "fue", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 17: <<Fué un trecho muy largo hacia abajo.>>. It should be: "Fue", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 20: <<La pasó en el camino, pero no la vió.>>. It should be: "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

I won't correct the "sólo" of page 23 and 48, or "Esta" (page 44) because it is, recently, written with accent ONLY IF there's ambiguity.

Page 33: <<-¿Cómo crees tú que yo sea tu mamá?...>>. Sounds a bit strange to my native Spanish ears.

Page 37: <<La encontraré. ¡LA ENCONTRARE!>>. Accent missing in the last part, it should be "ENCONTRARÉ".

Page 38: <<Entonces vió un cascajo de automóvil.>>. It should be: "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 40: <<Ahora vió hacia abajo.>>. It should be: "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 42: <<Vió hacia arriba, pero muy arriba. Vió un avión grade.>> It should be: "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 44: <<En ese momento, el pajarito vió una cosa grande.>>. It should be: "vio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 48: <>. It should be: "dio", without accent, like most of the monosyllables in Spanish.

Page 48: <<¡Debo de quitarme de aquí!>>. Sounds strange. What about "¡Debo retirarme de aquí!".

I don't know if there are more mistakes. I am not a linguist, I am just a person who tries to write properly. You can check these corrections yourselves on the R.A.E. website.

PD: "Perro Grande. Perro pequeño" is written in a weird way too (in Spanish). I'll see if I have time to write about that book too.

I loved this book as a child, and my toddler loves it, too. The repetition is great for youngsters, and the story is simple yet funny.

This is a particularly excellent book for young children just beginning school (Pre-K). It's a must "read aloud" book which all children love. Children easily relate to "loosing their mother" and crying with the baby bird "Where is my mother". There's lots of repetition which children need at this age and they enjoy repeating the phrases...the cat is not his mother, the dog is not his mother etc. It has all the necessary elements of a quality picture book...childrens' interests, repetition of key phrases, large interesting pictures and emotional content.