Birthdays are special occasions for people around the world, but for Latinos, each birthday is a passage into a new life stage. Whether you celebrate with a piñata, unique recordatorios, or a huge quinceañera bash, sharing your birthday with loved ones is a cultural necessity.
Introduce your little lectores to the excitement of a cumpleaños by sharing some of these fun and informative books with them, or reminisce about your own lifetime of birthdays with the title I recommend for parents.
Find these books and many more in La Tiendita.
Para los niños:
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Dora! (Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure) by Lauryn Silverhardt, Robert Roper and Alexis Romay
¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños! by Loretta Lopez
Birthday in the Barrio/Cumpleaños el el barrio by Mayra Lazara Dole
It’s My Birthday!/¡Es mi cumpleaños! by Gladys Rosa-Mendoza
Magda’s Piñata Magic/Magda y la piñata mágica by Becky Chavarria-Chairez
El piñatero/The Piñata Maker by George Ancona
The Party for Papá Luis/La fiesta para Papá Luis by Diane Gonzalez Bertrand
Para los padres:
Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA by Julia Alvarez
Another bilingual picture book, related to the theme of birthdays, is one written by Laura Lacámara and illustrated by Yuyi Morales: *Floating on Mama’s Song* . . . the girl in the story turns 7 years old, and something magical happens to her & her family on that day.
(The author is from Havana, Cuba . . . and the illustrator is from Yucatán, Mexico.)
– H ♥ ☮