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A review by misspentdays
Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English: Bilingual Spanish-English by Alma Flor Ada
Alma Flor Ada presents 26 poems focused on the culture of Mexican American farmworkers in the multi-award winning Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English. The poetry covers everything from Love and Pride, to Prickly Pear and Peaches, while presenting glimpses into this community.
This book is lovely, while delivering on the promise of using the alphabet. This is a family oriented approach to a topic that is politicized in some titles, which fills an unmet need in the topic.
Simon Silva's illustrations are bright, strong, and positive. He called upon his own experiences growing up in a farmworker family and manages to bring the sun drenched west coast to mind wile remaining somewhat minimal.
As each letter is introduced, we are given a poem based around a Spanish word starting with that letter. The translations, provided by Rosa Zubizarreta, are lovely. The way the book is set up, with the Spanish and English side by side, creates a useful text for those learning either language. The book written to be enjoyed by elementary age students would also work for higher grade students studying English as a Second Language or English speakers learning Spanish.
Not only is it an excellent resource for early Spanish / English as a Second Language courses, it would be a nice addition to classes studying poetry. While there are a number of picture books available in bi-lingual editions, Gathering the Sun provides poetry and a glimpse of particular culture.
This is an essential purchase for any public library system serving Spanish speakers and would be a good purchase for any school teaching Spanish.
This book is lovely, while delivering on the promise of using the alphabet. This is a family oriented approach to a topic that is politicized in some titles, which fills an unmet need in the topic.
Simon Silva's illustrations are bright, strong, and positive. He called upon his own experiences growing up in a farmworker family and manages to bring the sun drenched west coast to mind wile remaining somewhat minimal.
As each letter is introduced, we are given a poem based around a Spanish word starting with that letter. The translations, provided by Rosa Zubizarreta, are lovely. The way the book is set up, with the Spanish and English side by side, creates a useful text for those learning either language. The book written to be enjoyed by elementary age students would also work for higher grade students studying English as a Second Language or English speakers learning Spanish.
Not only is it an excellent resource for early Spanish / English as a Second Language courses, it would be a nice addition to classes studying poetry. While there are a number of picture books available in bi-lingual editions, Gathering the Sun provides poetry and a glimpse of particular culture.
This is an essential purchase for any public library system serving Spanish speakers and would be a good purchase for any school teaching Spanish.