Vamos: Un Libro en Dos Lenguas

VAMOS: Un Libro en Dos Lenguas

by Rebecca Emberley

Vamos is a great book that is translated into both English and Spanish. The book is about going to many places and going and doing many activities. The story includes going to the zoo, the aquarium, camping and going on a picnic. The book also has many extra vocabulary words included on the pages that correspond with the story so it is a great learning tool for students who are just learning Spanish or English. This would be a great book for ESL students in Kindergarten to get acquainted with the English language. This book could also be used for Kindergarten or First grade for learning Spanish. 

The illustrations in the book corresponded well with what was going on in the story and there were also pictures for each of the vocabulary words giving a visual representation for students that are more visual/hearing learners than seeing information in writing. I liked this book because of the illustrations and also because of the added vocabulary. I would recommend it for Kindergarten and First and I like that it can be used to learn English or Spanish. 

Song and Dance Man

SONG AND DANCE MAN

written by Karen Ackerman  illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Song and Dance Man is a story about a man who was once a vaudeville performer and now that he is older he likes to relive his vaudeville days with his grandchildren. Whenever this man's grandchildren come over they all go down to the basement together and the grandfather takes out his old cane and hat and begins to dance and sing to the best of his ability. Now that he is older it is harder for him to dance and his grandchildren wish that they could have seen their grandfather in his prime as a performer. 

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun book to read but also sad because I made such a connection with this book. My grandfather, who passed away a couple years ago, was a musician for many years. He and my grandmother had a television program in the late 60's and they used to travel all around the country. When my grandfather got older he developed arthritis. His arthritis became so bad in his hands he was not longer able to play his music (saxophone and bass guitar) and it was devastating for all of us because he was no longer able to do what he loved more than anything in this world. Reading this book reminded me so much of my grandfather and how much I wished I could have seen him perform live so many years ago. 

I would recommend this book for grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade. It's a pretty easy read and the illustrations are quite interesting. I believe the illustrations are in colored pencil and as you can see by the cover of the book, the illustrator uses multiple colors in his pictures. 

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Written by: Ellen Levine  Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson

Henry's Freedom Box is a story about a boy born and raised into slavery. Henry and his mother are both slaves and their master is on his death bed. Henry dreams of freedom after hearing stories of masters freeing their slaves when they die. But Henry's master believed Henry was a good slave and passed Henry on to his son. Henry continued to be a hard worker and fell in love with another young female slave. Henry was so infatuated he felt like singing. Singing was not allowed by slaves so Henry hummed instead. Henry marries Nancy and they have children. Nancy mentions to Henry that something he should worry about is Nancy and the children getting separated from Henry through being sold. Unfortunately, Henry's worst nightmare comes true. This story continues with Henry trying to find a way back to his wife and children and his journey to freedom. 

I chose this book because civil rights have always been something that fascinated me. I studied Political Science for a few years and many of the cases I studied were on civil rights. The Underground Railroad is something else that fascinated me ever since learning about it so many years ago. I really liked this book though it did not end the way I suspected it would. The book is somewhat disheartening and not like most of the other books that I have been reading from the Caldecott list. Many of the books I have been reading have been stories about talking animals and have not as rich in content. This book is very deep and emotion driven. I would recommend this book for students 3rd through 5th grade. This is not a book I would read to students in 1st or 2nd although this book is not graphic and does not depict any of the brutality that many slaves faced. This would be a good book when introducing the Underground Railroad and children might relate more since the story begins as Henry as a child.