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celia_thebookishhufflepuff 's review for:
Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia
by Jeanette Winter
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
I chose to read this book with the third grade student I work with because the "I Am" biographies were going over his head. I'm not sure how much he enjoyed this book, but he did have a lot to say about the pictures.
There's some good vocabulary in this book that's explained really well in context. It was easy to ask my student about vocabulary in context with this book. There are sentences like "books are scarce. Most people have none." It can be easy to infer what the word "scarce" means from the text. There's a lot of good vocabulary explained in context.
The story is really cute. I liked the vibrant jungle illustrations that show the conditions that Luis and the biblioburro had to go through. It gives a good picture of what life was like with the biblioburro. The pictures also did a good job of illustrating what was happening, and there were many places to pause and ask questions based on the story.
One thing I think could have been explained better was why the biblioburro was needed. It mentions the scarcity of books but doesn't show that. The other children's book on this subject, Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown does a better job of showing the need for the donkey library.
When reading this book with students, there is one page to be wary of. In the middle of the book,there is a man with a gun . My student's first comment was "that's inappropriate." We talked about how sometimes guns showed up in picture books to show hardship. After we read the page, we found out that the man was a robber in the jungle, who tried to attack Luis for money.
I have mixed feelings about this scene. On the one hand, it is important that students learn the hardships of a job like the biblioburro, in the jungle. However, it can be jarring to have to explain this to students mid-book. My student was obsessed with this scene in his retelling of the book, even though it doesn't add much to the story.
Overall, this is a good pick for a beginner biography for younger students who have not experienced them before. It is structured well and the pictures match. Other than that one page, everything aligns with the central message of the story. I just wish it got a little more into the "why" of the story.
There's some good vocabulary in this book that's explained really well in context. It was easy to ask my student about vocabulary in context with this book. There are sentences like "books are scarce. Most people have none." It can be easy to infer what the word "scarce" means from the text. There's a lot of good vocabulary explained in context.
The story is really cute. I liked the vibrant jungle illustrations that show the conditions that Luis and the biblioburro had to go through. It gives a good picture of what life was like with the biblioburro. The pictures also did a good job of illustrating what was happening, and there were many places to pause and ask questions based on the story.
One thing I think could have been explained better was why the biblioburro was needed. It mentions the scarcity of books but doesn't show that. The other children's book on this subject, Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown does a better job of showing the need for the donkey library.
When reading this book with students, there is one page to be wary of. In the middle of the book,
I have mixed feelings about this scene. On the one hand, it is important that students learn the hardships of a job like the biblioburro, in the jungle. However, it can be jarring to have to explain this to students mid-book. My student was obsessed with this scene in his retelling of the book, even though it doesn't add much to the story.
Overall, this is a good pick for a beginner biography for younger students who have not experienced them before. It is structured well and the pictures match. Other than that one page, everything aligns with the central message of the story. I just wish it got a little more into the "why" of the story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence