Reviews

I really do like this one - all the "I like its" are things that I really do like - when you hold my hand, when you let me help you, etc - and I love that the illustrations let you read it like either the parent or the child is doing the talking AND that the gender of both penguins is utterly obscured. Short, easy to read aloud, opportunities for interaction while reading - but my kid just isn't into it! I have no idea why not.

caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review against another edition

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5.0

This bilingual version of the original English text from 1997 is part of Harcourt’s Libros Viajeros series of Spanish-English bilingual books. The fantastic very bright illustrations of the penguin parent and child are deceptively simple but convey a lot of emotion and love. Each page’s background is a solid, bright primary colour (green, red, or blue), so the book could also be used to introduce colours. In fact, the repetition of background colours could be used as a learning tool; the reappearance of the same colours would allow asking the toddler what colour it is after they have learnt that from previous pages. The language is similarly repetitive: each page begins with “I like it when / Me gusta cuando” and the phrases that finish the sentence are often either movements or opportunities for touching (for example: “you tickle me” and “you dance with me”).

This book would work well for a bedtime book, as it ends with the baby penguin going to bed: the last “I like it when” is “we kiss good night” and then the final pages have typical goodnight dialogue: “Sleep tight / Que duermas bien,” “I love you / Te quiero,” and “I love you too / Yo tambien te quiero.” The background colour on the last two pages is also the more soothing colour of blue. Although English is featured at the top of each page, English and Spanish are in the same size font and are in black and white respectively.

cac03's review against another edition

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5.0

My son loved this book. Simple for the youngest little ones. We read this 1000 times.

tvancort's review against another edition

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2.0

Ok, so a lot of kids' books put words in a kid's mouth, literally, etc. etc. But some of them are really written so those words are what a bigger person would want to hear a smaller person say, and those are kinda grating.

mldavisreads's review

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lighthearted relaxing

5.0

Bilingual board book. This is a simple, sweet board book about an adult penguin and a younger penguin. As another reviewer mentioned, the fact that this relationship is not specified makes the book more inclusive-- it could be a parent, an aunt or uncle, a grandparent, etc. The book has a great color scheme for a board book, nice primary colors contrasted with the black/white/yellow of the penguins. The text is fully bilingual, with each phrase appearing first in English and then in Spanish. The text has a repetitive structure: I like it when/ me gusta cuando followed by a specific action that is clearly featured in the illustration. A warm, cozy book that would be great to read one-on-one or at an infant storytime where parents could act out the illustrations.

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