Customer Reviews

Goodnight Moon /Buenas Noches, Luna (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Es el favorito de mi hijo de 7 meses. Cuando le leo este libro, se sonrie y presta atencion a los objetos que le voy senalando y ecucha muy atento. En mi opinion, este libro lo deberian tener todos los ninos de edad pre-escolar.

I really loved the translation of this classic children's book and read it to my daughters often. The translator was able to capture the sense of the story and make it very readable and enjoyable in Spanish. An excellent goodnight story for anyone reading in Spanish to their little ones!

As American of Cuban descent, it is very important to me that my son learn Spanish. Teresa Mlawer did an excellent job with the translation. She was able to keep the spirit and flow of the original text, although she had to change a couple of things here and there and lose some of the rhyming, which is to be expected. It still has the same soothing musicality of the original, which makes it a great book to read aloud. I love reading this to my 8 month old son as part of our bedtime ritual. And no matter how fussy he's been before I start, he always settles down when he hears the first line.

We own the English version of this book, so I thought I would buy the Spanish version to aid in my effort to raise my son to be bilingual.

I was disappointed in two ways. First and most importantly, the Spanish translation doesn't exhibit the natural rhythm of the Spanish language. Secondly, in the Spanish translation, the illustrations are not all in color, the book is not hard cover, and the pages are of lower quality than the English original so it is likely to damage as my son grabs at them.

I was so excited to find Goodnight Moon in Spanish, as the English version was a favorite of my siblings 20 years ago, and my 15 month old son today. We have dozens of Spanish translations of English books, some of which work better than others. I had hoped this one would at least be okay, but for me, it seems very awkward and loses the charm of the original; and my son will not listen to even a page read in Spanish.

Others have commented that the book keeps the rhythm of the Spanish language, but I couldn't disagree more. I am hesitant to simply blame the translator--with such simple images, I think there is only so much a translator can do to preserve the feeling of the original, and perhaps this book just didn't lend itself. All the charming rhymes seem to be lost, without being replaced, and so the repetition that is so soothing, even to babies, just isn't there. In addition, the lines themselves feel so much longer in Spanish, as well, and my son, who adores the English, gets very impatient for the page to be turned.

Let me just provide a couple examples. From the first page to the second:
English: In the great green ROOM, there was a telephone, a red balLOON, and a picture of...the cow jumping over the MOON.
Okay, maybe "room" is a stretch there, but there is a rhythm to that rhyme.

Spanish: En la gran habitacion verde, hay un telefono, un globo rojo y un cuadro...de una vaquita que salta sobre la Luna.

Some other pages are slightly better:
English: 2 little kittens and a pair of mittens
Spanish: Dos gatitos juguetones, dos caletines y dos mitones

But followed by:
English: ...comb and a BRUSH and a bowl full of MUSH, and a quiet old lady who was whispering HUSH
Spanish: ...cepillo y un gran peine y papilla en un tazon, y una amable viejecita que teje muy calladita.


So is there some rhythm in the Spanish translation? Sure. But does it even approximate the English? No, I don't think so. Of course translations are not going to be perfect, but we own many Spanish texts [translated from English] that are virtually as good as (or even occasionally better than) the original. The awkwardness of this translation seems to present a bad example of the beauty and flow of Spanish, and unless reading the English version is not a possibility, I really don't recommend this book in Spanish--especially not with a baby or toddler. An older, school age child who wants to learn the Spanish vocabulary would, I think, be much more likely to enjoy this book (thus the 2 stars instead of 1).

Note for reference: Some board books we have enjoyed in Spanish include "Donde esta el ombliguito" by Karen Katz, and all the "Este no es mi..." books (Este no es mi dragon being a favorite among favorites, though, to be fair, some of the word choices are a bit odd, but that doesn't affect the overall flow of the book).

For those familiar with the English version, you will be very pleased with the Spanish version. It's soothing and flows easily from one page to the next. My 3 month old likes it a lot!

A mi hijo le encanto este libro. El lo lee y lo lee constantemente. Lo recomiendo a cualquier padre que quiera que su hijo practique la lectura y vaya adquiriendo a la vez el gusto por ella.

Es un libro muy simple que trasmite una magia y una calma especial. A mi hija le gusta mucho y a mi me encanta!.
A veces luego de leerlo terminamos deseando "buenas noches" a cosas que se nos ocurren, muchas veces graciosas, con las cuales terminamos a las risas.
Claro, en estos casos la calma no se cumple tanto..., pero nos divertimos mucho.

This was designed to read when you put to sleep a small child. The child says good night to all the things in a room. Plus while reading it, you can add features of the child's room to it. If your child is in that stage that wants you to repeate the same story over and over again. This is the book he or she will like.

Although I can't figure out exactly why, my boys love this book! This book is just as appealing to children in Spanish as in English. The illustrations are simple but my boys love them! They also really like the repetition. When we read it, I always add a "Buenas noches" to other items on the page. This has really helped expand thier vocabulary. It is one of my boys favorites, as it is for most children.