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readaloud_mom's review
emotional
funny
fast-paced
5.0
This is such a gorgeous bilingual counting book! My kid and I have loved on a lot of counting books together, but this one really stands out even among our favorites.
As an adult, I definitely read the story as part of the folktale genre where a trickster outwits a personification of Death; but I'd like to note that the book itself never explicitly connects Senor Calaveras with dying and my kid totally missed that subtext for several years. I really appreciate how the book leaves room to engage from a lot of angles (from giggling at the silliness of impatient Senor Calaveras, to comparing it to other tales about cheating Death, to "Mommy, what is the name of that bone?")
As an adult, I definitely read the story as part of the folktale genre where a trickster outwits a personification of Death; but I'd like to note that the book itself never explicitly connects Senor Calaveras with dying and my kid totally missed that subtext for several years. I really appreciate how the book leaves room to engage from a lot of angles (from giggling at the silliness of impatient Senor Calaveras, to comparing it to other tales about cheating Death, to "Mommy, what is the name of that bone?")
voya_k's review
5.0
Grandma Beetle is kind of too busy throwing a party to go with you, OK Senor Calavera?
shellys's review
5.0
What a delight!
Seldom do I have tears of laughter after reading a picture book! This is a delightful tale of a wise grandmother whose kindness and cleverness make her an unlikely friend.
Seldom do I have tears of laughter after reading a picture book! This is a delightful tale of a wise grandmother whose kindness and cleverness make her an unlikely friend.
octavia_cade's review
3.0
Fun picture book about counting, with the numbers presented in both English and Spanish. Anyway, as the story goes, Granny is on death's door and Death turns up to collect. He's a walking skeleton, very polite, but Granny keeps putting him off with household chores she has to do before she can shuffle off this mortal coil with him. You can guess the sort of thing - one house to sweep, two pots of tea to boil, three pounds of corn to make into tortillas and so on. And it's all very good-natured and entertaining, and the illustrations are fun, but all I can think is the little prospective readers can't count to ten but they're perfectly fine with the concept of death?
Granted, I never spend any time with children. What they grasp and at which stage of their development they grasp it is beyond me. But don't basic numbers come before "So, death is a thing and it's coming for Granny"? Not in this book! Here, kids who haven't yet learned their numbers are presumably expected to be already competent with the idea of mortality. As I said, maybe it's just me, and I can't pretend I didn't enjoy the seeming disconnect. But still, I don't remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar ending with a coffin instead of a chrysalis...
Granted, I never spend any time with children. What they grasp and at which stage of their development they grasp it is beyond me. But don't basic numbers come before "So, death is a thing and it's coming for Granny"? Not in this book! Here, kids who haven't yet learned their numbers are presumably expected to be already competent with the idea of mortality. As I said, maybe it's just me, and I can't pretend I didn't enjoy the seeming disconnect. But still, I don't remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar ending with a coffin instead of a chrysalis...
tea_rex_love's review
5.0
This is a funny story about how an abuela manages to cheat death for another year.
typewriterdeluxe's review
4.0
"Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book" is a story about a clever grandma who delays Señor Calavera when he comes to take her life. It's a great story and I like the art a lot.
The only thing I wish was different is how numbers in English and Spanish are incorporated in the text. All the other books I've read by Yuyi Morales are really successful in executing Spanglish or bilingual texts, but this one felt a little repetitive to me.
Overall, however, I think it's a great story and a fun way to incorporate números en español for kids who are beginning Spanish learners. Recommended for reading out loud with elementary school kids and up.
The only thing I wish was different is how numbers in English and Spanish are incorporated in the text. All the other books I've read by Yuyi Morales are really successful in executing Spanglish or bilingual texts, but this one felt a little repetitive to me.
Overall, however, I think it's a great story and a fun way to incorporate números en español for kids who are beginning Spanish learners. Recommended for reading out loud with elementary school kids and up.
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