Customer Reviews

Fiesta!

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A bilingual counting primer, this colorful and energetic book follows three children to market one sunny day; there they fill one (uno) basket with exactly what they need for a special surprise, two (dos) horns, three (tres) little animals, four (cuatro) airplanes, five (cinci) tops, etc, all the way to ten (diez) streamers. Next the children call the neighborhood ninos to a back yard party (fiesta), where they have fashioned a beautiful piñata from the things purchased at the market that morning. As soon as the piñata breaks, toys and candy scatter, everyone enjoying an impromptu afternoon fiesta. The illustrations encourage curiosity as the three children explore the market stalls, choosing exactly what they need, counting higher with each new addition to the basket. Bright and attractive, the vivid colors emphasize the happy faces of the children as they prepare their surprise in a bilingual counting primer to share with young readers in both English and Spanish, a fiesta of language and numbers. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

Fiesta is a fun way to teach kids numbers, counting and Spanish as they follow two children filling a pinata for a fiesta. My son, now 3, has enjoyed this book since before he was 1. I love books that have several elements to them. My son likes to count the items going into the pinata and repeat the Spanish words. The illustrations are colorful and full of detail, so even though the text is simple, there is a lot to look at each time we read it. We also own Siesta (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)) (by the same author and illustrator).

This book involves children starting out with one basket, and going to a colorful market to fill it with the items they need for a party. Each page goes up by one number, from one to 10. After the number and name of the item, each page asks "Que mas?/What else?" This can become repititious, but it's a nice way to initiate dialogue with a child and have them point out what else catches their eye in the market scenes. The party ends with the pinata breaking and the many items that were purchased falling out into the hands of eager children.

It's a colorful, positive, fun book, good for speakers of English or Spanish.

This was for my nephew age 3 he really enjoyed it. His mom was reading it and he was learning spanish and kept repeating the words.

When we first started reading this book I was a little "ho hum" but my 18 month old is in LOVE with this book. She loves to find the doggy that is on each page and is fascinated by the children. So it is one of those read every day books for us.

Great book! Highly recommended for teachers and children librarians to have in their stock. Kid's loved it!

Let me start with a few quibbles with the Amazon listing. First, above it says "...(Spanish Edition)..."; in actuality, this board book is bilingual with Spanish and English on each page. Second, the reading level is stated to be "Ages 4-8," but it's the type of book that you can read to your infant or toddler, so "Baby-Preschool" would be more accurate. Finally, although the image says "Click to Look Inside," you can't see any "unadulterated" interior pages here (just the covers and the copyright page). Check out the HarperCollins Children's site to "Browse Inside" the larger hardcover edition ¡Fiesta!; you can see three page spreads (i.e., six pages) with words and illustrations.

OK, back to the review... Este libro es muy agradable / This book is very enjoyable. Me gusta las frases simples ("siete silbatos", "diez serpentinas"), que ayuda a enseñar a los niños cómo contar / I like the simple phrases ("seven whistles," "ten streamers") which help teach children how to count. El arte es lleno de color pero es relativamente sutil, lo cual es bueno porque es diferente del arte en muchos otros libros infantiles que tienen los bordes afilados y mucho contraste / The art is colorful but relatively subtle, which is good because it is different from the art in many other books for children with sharp edges and a lot of contrast. La historia sobre una piñata mantiene la atención de los niños / The story about a piñata maintains children's attention. Buy this book at Amazon.com! / ¡Compre este libro en Amazon.com!