Customer Reviews

Lakas and the Manilatown Fish/Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown

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

 

 

WOW! Did you know that Filipino fish could KISS??? Muuuuua! My nieces are in love with this bilingual (Filipino/English) story. It takes them through Manilatown following a singing fish. The illustrations are vibrant and alive. Makes you want to go out and find a kissing fish!

We own almost every book by Children's Book Press. They suddenly jumped from storytales to FUN books. Another bilingual (Spanish/English) book that I highly recommend from this press that just came out is DRUM, CHAVI, DRUM!/TOCA, CHAVI, TOCA! The little girl character is feisty and funny. It is set in Little Havana's Calle Ocho Festival. I commend Children's Book Press for being the first to publish books that are the first of their kind. An applause for this outstanding filipino book!

We attended a reading of this book by the author at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. My kids (3 & 5) enjoy the story very much and often request it for bedtime. I disagree with one of the reviews above that the English/Tagalog format creates confusion with the illustrations...it makes perfect sense to me, and I think the illustrations are very well done. The Manilatown references in and out of the story add a degree of poignancy and make it a must have for every comtemporary American family of Filipino descent.

There are so few books about Filipino American kids, and even fewer Tagalog-English bilingual books, so LAKAS AND THE MANILATOWN FISH is a very important contribution. I love this book because it is very entertaining and visually exciting, but also because it's deeply rooted in community history and seeks to educate others about lost Filipino American history. Read LAKAS to share the adventures of a young Pinoy and his zany fish friend, but also to learn about what happened to Manilatown in San Francisco.

If your son or daughter has an attention span as short as my 3-year-old did, this book is a bit lengthy on the amount of words on each page. However, it has absolutely beautiful artwork and it is a good buy if you want your child to learn Tagalog alongside English. There are also bits and pieces of Filipino culture sprinkled in the story, as well.

In summary, it's a good book, but better for children who can sit still long enough for the whole page. (Better suited for 4-5 and up.)