Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Encantos (2017), Edition: Bilingual, 22 pages
Description
Presents a bilingual version of a traditional Latin American song about skeletons rising from the grave on each hour, with art inspired by the famous Mexican "calavera" woodcut prints and clock hands to move to agree with the song.
User reviews
LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
With each hour leading up to midnight, one more little skeleton joins the others in a variety of activities from eating to dancing to marching in a parade and more.
There aren’t very many books concerning the Day of the Dead for the youngest readers. This simple counting book at least introduces
The physical book itself is very interesting. It folds out like an accordion with one side in English and the other side in Spanish. Each side has the same illustrations, begins with a movable clock, and ends with a lift the flap conclusion. The illustrations are quite interesting to look at, although they are only in black-and-white. The splashes of color on the cover indicate that the inner pages would also have looked even better if some color had been included. The book also apparently includes a free sing-along app, but with my phone at peak storage usage I could not download it, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness.
The text of the book is apparently based on a classic song. Being unfamiliar with it myself, I can’t really speak to how accurate it is or if it is taking the original song more as a leaping off point. Some have commented in professional reviews that the English translation is a little bit clunky, but again I cannot comment on that, not being fluent in Spanish by any means. The English side uses the word “skeletitos” as a replacement for “esqueletitos” in order to make the rhyming and meter match the Spanish side. Personally I didn’t really read it in a singsong way, particularly since I am unfamiliar with the original song, so for me it didn’t really matter for the wordage be similar to the song. I recommend replacing “skeletitos” with either “little skeletons” or “esqueletitos.” I just don’t think that a fake Spanish sounding word (but not actual Spanish word) is what I would want to give to small children. However, that’s just a small quibble; for the most part I found this book compelling enough to share with little ones.
There aren’t very many books concerning the Day of the Dead for the youngest readers. This simple counting book at least introduces
Show More
some of the visual symbols of the holiday. Although it doesn’t describe the rituals and customs concerned with the holiday, it can serve as a basic introduction for very little ones who don’t really comprehend holidays particularly well anyway. On the plus side, because it isn’t super holiday centric, it’s a good counting book for any time of year. The physical book itself is very interesting. It folds out like an accordion with one side in English and the other side in Spanish. Each side has the same illustrations, begins with a movable clock, and ends with a lift the flap conclusion. The illustrations are quite interesting to look at, although they are only in black-and-white. The splashes of color on the cover indicate that the inner pages would also have looked even better if some color had been included. The book also apparently includes a free sing-along app, but with my phone at peak storage usage I could not download it, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness.
The text of the book is apparently based on a classic song. Being unfamiliar with it myself, I can’t really speak to how accurate it is or if it is taking the original song more as a leaping off point. Some have commented in professional reviews that the English translation is a little bit clunky, but again I cannot comment on that, not being fluent in Spanish by any means. The English side uses the word “skeletitos” as a replacement for “esqueletitos” in order to make the rhyming and meter match the Spanish side. Personally I didn’t really read it in a singsong way, particularly since I am unfamiliar with the original song, so for me it didn’t really matter for the wordage be similar to the song. I recommend replacing “skeletitos” with either “little skeletons” or “esqueletitos.” I just don’t think that a fake Spanish sounding word (but not actual Spanish word) is what I would want to give to small children. However, that’s just a small quibble; for the most part I found this book compelling enough to share with little ones.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
22 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
1945635061 / 9781945635069