Bebe Goes Shopping [Paperback]

Susan Middleton Elya (Author), Steven Salerno (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A quick trip to the supermercado? Not with Bebe in the shopping cart. Just as Mama is ready to throw up her manos, she gives sweet Bebe a box of animal cookies. A dulce, at last! Then they're off to the checkout line, smiling all the way.

    

Includes a glossary of Spanish words.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreS In this warm and engaging picture book, a routine visit to the grocery store becomes an exciting outing. Children will love the retro illustrations done in watercolors and colored ink and brimming with delightful details, while adults will identify with the difficulty of keeping small children entertained and contained during a mundane shopping expedition. Spanish terms are scattered throughout the rhyming text, with a glossary included at the end of the book. English-only and bilingual readers will enjoy the bouncing rhythm and buoyant illustrations. The book is a great choice for storytime or one-on-one reading. Melissa Christy Buron, Epps Island Elementary, Houston, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* K-Gr. 2. Introducing a young child to Spanish has never been as attractive as in this shopping romp. Mama is headed to the grocery store (the supermercado), but bebe has to come along. That slows things down, but heightens the fun. Every child (and parent) will identify with what comes next, as Mama tries to grab what she needs while bebe follows his own agenda. The text carefully incorporates Spanish words into the rhyming text: "Bebe in the shopping cart, high in the seat, / looks around for a dulce--a sweet." Almost all the words can be understood from the context or from the pictures--and oh, what pictures! Using gouache, watercolors, colored inks, and pencils, Salerno evokes the hip, retro style of 1950s cartoon-style advertisements to introduce an attractive young mother, hair swinging in a ponytail, and her adorable baby. Placed against the white background of the grocery store, the shoppers and products blossom in fruity pinks, red, yellows, and greens. Salerno is also a master at getting motion into his pictures, and his spreads rumble and tumble. A glossary completes the delightful package, but most kids will find the Spanish easy to comprehend. Fantastico! Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 36 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; 1 edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152061428
• ISBN-13: 978-0152061425
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Middleton Elya grew up near Des Moines, Iowa, went to college 35 miles away, and then left her state to teach in the middle-of-nowhere Nebraska. She wanted to teach 3rd grade but ended up teaching high school Spanish instead (due to her double degree from Iowa State University). After 8.5 years of teaching in the Midwest, she moved to San Diego to get married and ended up teaching Spanish to native speakers in Ramona, California. Then a move with her husband to the Bay Area left her jobless, with a new baby, and with plenty of time to write. She started submitting stories for publication in 1988 and finally struck gold with Say Hola to Spanish, a nonfiction picture book from Lee & Low, in 1994. Now, 26 titles later, Elya is working on novels, as well. She has two grown children and one nearly-grown child, and still loves to make up stories, do school visits, and remember what it was like to be a kid. She also has an antiques and book store in Danville, California, where she sells autographed copies of her books. Check it out at www.thepolkadotattic.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "He tugs on a carton with mucho colores.", March 26, 2006

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bebe Goes Shopping (Hardcover)

This is a delightful mix of language (Spanish and English) with a great adventure in a supermarket (supermercado), as a young mother takes her baby to shop the colorful aisles of the store, every bright color catching his eye and stimulating him to touch and explore. The illustrations are rich and energetic; as the text uses unfamiliar words, the art work easily indicates the context, making critical connections for young readers. Adding to the fun of the adventure, the text is rhymed, the Spanish words sprinkled among the English, the result a potpourri of sounds to tickle the palate and engage the imagination.

The baby (Bebe) is attracted to everything he sees, eager to smell and touch and play with and eat, his mama scrambling to keep some things out of reach, while offering him those that are safe for little hands, "Cuidado (careful)!" Squealing with delight, baby and mother have a grand adventure, doing the most ordinary of chores; but from the perspective of the child, the world has suddenly expanded to include the magic of shelf after shelf of new things. Given a sorpressa (surprise), after a helping hand from mama to open the box of animal cookies, baby devours a leon (lion) and an oso (bear). The end of the book has a helpful glossary to wed the Spanish with the English words, even the correct pronunciation. This book is a delightful introduction to the Spanish use of familiar words, combined with a cheerful and loving mother and baby, the happy pairing of two cultures. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cute book!, June 20, 2006

By 

Proud Mama (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bebe Goes Shopping (Hardcover)

My 20 month old daughter loves this book! She likes the pictures and hearing about Bebe's fantastico day at the market. This book is written extremely well and incorporates Spanish words perfectly into this story that all parents are so familiar with. My daughter has started repeating some of the Spanish words from the book-which I think is great. I would recommend this book to anyone-especially Hispanic famillies who can just hear their own mother yelling at them, "Cuidado!"

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Bilingual Book, April 1, 2011

By 

L. Casella (Ridgefield, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bebe Goes Shopping (Paperback)

I just read this one to my four-year-old, and both she and I loved it. My daughter easily understood the meaning of the Spanish words from context. Plus, there's a glossary in the back of the book with pronunciation. Fun illustrations and story. We also like the beach version.