Vanessa is such a curious child and she’s definitely much more interested in all topics related to science than I was at her age — or ever, really. I’m not sure where the fascination comes from, but I’m making sure to nature it (although I know very little about the subject) because I would never want to influence her with my own likes and dislikes.

Luckily, her father LOVES science too, so they get to spend a lot of time talking about insects, weather, animals and all things nature. But her absolute favorite is astronomy. Anything related to the space, the stars and the planets will make her drop whatever she’s doing and pay attention. Needless to say, she was thrilled when we got this month’s Scholastic Parent Circle book: Mi primera enciclopedia del mundo from Club Leo because the first few pages are specifically about space, the moon, satellites, space shuttles and such.

She was so excited to see all that information that she asked if she could read it in the car after I picked the book up from our box. Since she learned how to read this year in kindergarten, she tries to read anything and everything she sees. Even though I was driving and I couldn’t really see what she was reading, I gathered it was super interesting because of the tone of her voice, which pretty much could be described as astonishment at all she was learning! When I finally got around to seeing what she was reading, I was surprised at her excitement. This children’s first encyclopedia is full of colorful images, tons of interesting descriptions and easy-to-understand information.

As a parent raising bilingual children, my favorite part of Mi primera enciclopedia del mundo is that it allows me to expose my children to vocabulary they wouldn’t normally be exposed to. I mean, while we speak Spanish at home all the time, it’s not like we necessarily talk about science, geography and history all the time. One of the biggest worries that parents of bilingual children have is that our children’s vocabulary in Spanish won’t be as extensive as it’ll be in English since they get schooled in the latter, but books like Mi primera enciclopedia del mundo can definitely help in this arena.

The Giveaway

We’re giving away one copy of Mi primera enciclopedia del mundo to one lucky winner.

To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us how you teach your children about science and nature.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Thursday, June 14 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

I don’t know if it’s because she’s been exposed to both English and Spanish since she was born, but my daughter has always shown an interest in other languages. Last year I started exposing her to French by using the Little Pim line of products. One of her favorite things is a poster that shows how to say “hello” in different languages, which is exactly the topic of Say Hello! the Scholastic Club Leo book I decided to review this month.

The book tells the simple story of Carmelita and all the people she meets in her neighborhood on her way to her abuelita’s home. All the people are from different countries and so they say hello to Carmelita in their own language. There’s the lady at the French bakery, the neighbors from Kenya, the owners of a Japanese restaurant and so on. Vanessa was quick to point out that she already knew how to say “hello” in three languages: Spanish, English and French.

I like that through the story my children can not only learn how to say “hello” in different languages, but it also gives me an opportunity to talk to them about other cultures and peoples of the world. The colorful illustrations really help me do this and I love that they portray a diverse neighborhood because my children are not really exposed to anything like that.

I think this is the perfect book for those children growing up bilingual, but even more so for those who are not so they can be introduced to the notion that there are tons of other languages spoken throughout the world. The book is in English, but has Spanish phrases embedded in it — as well as a pronunciation guide of all the “hellos” at the end of the book.

The Giveaway

We’re giving away one copy of Say Hello! to one lucky winner.

To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us how you teach your children about other cultures and languages.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Wednesday, May 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

So I was intrigued when I saw a set of three books entitled Nuestra Comunidad Global (Our Global Community) on Scholastic’s Club Leo catalog and I decide to choose it as my pick for the January Scholastic Parent Circle.

I am glad I did! Each book covers a different topic, so there’s one about musical instruments, another one about markets and the third one is about houses all from around the world. Reading them has given me the opportunity to talk to my daughter not only about geography (one of my favorite topics!), but also about cultures that she knew nothing about.

Without a doubt, the vibrant photos are what really make these very short and slim books interesting. My daughter’s favorite book is the one about houses (or hogares like the book calls them in Spanish. My daughter wasn’t familiar with the word, so she got a little lesson on synonyms.) She liked the tree house and the floating house the most. The text is extremely simple, which is great for my daughter who is just learning how to read.

Each books contains an illustrated glossary and additional information about each of the topics covered. The one about musical instruments, for example, groups instruments by kind at the end of the book. So I got to talk to my daughter about wind, string and percussion instruments.

(P.S. After some research, I found out there are other topics in the series, including schools, families, games and clothing. I think I’ll be checking those out too!)

The Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Lucila!

We’re giving away one set of Nuestra Comunidad Global to one lucky winner.

To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us what you do to explain other cultures to your children.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Sunday, January 8 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

I’m pretty excited about this opportunity because I’m always looking for quality and fun books in Spanish and we all know how hard those are to come by. We already have a nice collection of Spanish books that I’ve brought back from my travels to Peru, Mexico and Puerto Rico – where my family resides.

But Vanessa is in kindergarten and she’s starting to learn how to read, so her needs and likes are definitely changing. Not to mention that she’s starting to be extremely interested in science, especially the solar system. I’m looking forward to exploring Club Leo’s selections not only for Vanessa, but also for her little brother, Santiago, who adores cars.

Choosing December’s book was easy for obvious reasons, but also because Vanessa has started to ask a lot more questions about the meaning of Christmas. At a time when it’s easy to lose sight of what we’re really celebrating at the end of the month, it was refreshing to read the story told in Joanne Oppenheim’s “El milagro de la primera flor de Nochebuena: un cuento mexicano sobre la Navidad” (or The miracle of the first Poinsettia: a Mexican Christmas story).

Juanita is a little girl who’s father has lost his job and so they have no money for Christmas. Juanita’s main concern is not being able to take a gift to church to give to el Niño Jesús (Baby Jesus). On Christmas Eve – Nochebuena – she decides to stay outside the church as the entire town goes in for la Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass). She’s sad about what’s going on in her family, but she’s also embarrassed.

Outside she hears a voice tell her to grab some weeds and take them inside the church and not to worry about how they look. Confused, Juanita follows the instructions and walks into the church with the weeds. By the time she gets to the altar, they have transformed into beautiful red flowers or poinsettias. Juanita learns that the best gifts are those given from the heart.

As the author explains at the end of the book, there are many version of this same story explaining the miracle of the first poinsettia and she was hooked as soon as she found out about it the first time.

I love that the story not only gives me an opportunity to talk about Christmas traditions – such as Nochebuena and Misa de Gallo – with Vanessa, but also about giving and how the size or the price of the gift has little importance. Not to mention that it’s great to remind my daughter what we’re really celebrating on Christmas.

The Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Cindy Lou!

We’re giving away one copy of “El milagro de la primera flor the Nochebuena” to one lucky winner.

To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us how you explain the meaning of Christmas (or the holiday you celebrate) to your little ones. 

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Sunday, December 11 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.