Our house is full of children’s books. They’re everywhere. In my kids’ bedrooms, in their playroom in the basement, in the family room, in my bedroom and even in the bathroom! I’d say maybe 90% of the books are in Spanish, except for the board books which are mostly in English because I’ve always had a really hard time finding board books en español.

While my almost 5-year-old daughter no longer has patience for the simple stories usually told on a board book — the books she likes these days have to have a more complex story with several characters — my 18-month-old son is all over them. Lolos, he calls them and loves to sit on my lap while I read them to him.

I’ve never had a problem translating English books into Spanish, but it’s really nice to not have to do that all the time and that’s why I was so happy when I got the latest bilingual additions to Candlewick Press’ board book collection: The Birthday Box/Mi caja de cumpelaños and Higher! Higher!/¡Más alto! ¡Más alto! both by Leslie Patricelli.

I really like Higher! Higher!/¡Más alto! ¡Más alto! because of its simplicity and its repetition of the phrase ¡más alto! Plus, the story is pretty cute too: a little girl on a swing who wants to go higher and higher and the things she encounters (giraffes, high rises, planes and even an alien in outer space) on her way up. Who doesn’t like go higher and higher on a swing? While there’s not a lot of vocabulary on the book, the illustrations of the things listed above give me ample opportunities to introduce new words to my son.

The other book, The Birthday Box/Mi caja de cumpelaños, tells the story of a little boy who gets a gift in a box for his birthday and how he enjoys playing with the box more than the gift itself. If you have small kids, you know this is definitely true, ¿cierto? This board book has a lot more vocabulary and while I would’ve translated a couple of sentences a bit differently, it’s just an issue of style because the translations are all grammatically correct.

I also think these books would be perfect for parents who are raising bilingual kids, but who are non-native speakers of Spanish or for those Latino parents who are not completely fluent and need a little help with simple vocabulary associated with children.

THE GIVEAWAY!

We’re giving away two sets of books to TWO lucky winners. To enter please leave us a comment about why you’d like to win these books and for whom.

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Disclosure: We received review copies.  All opinions are our own.

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