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She enjoyed both books Abuela and Isla-wonderful story and illustrations. A great book-My wife was born in NYC and speaks spanish so our 6 yr old granddaughter calls her abuela or grandma. It was fun to fly over the city.
The children learn Spanish as they look. I love the pictures and letting them search for "perros" and "gatos", "pájaros" and "globos". I love Elisa Kleven, the illustrator, but thought it was a silly story. I finally got a copy, read it to my children and preschool students, and they love it.
I have given this book as gifts to many people and most recently, my two-year old gave this book to her "Abuela" for Mother's Day. I used this book as a starting point for many creative writing assignments. I first purchased this book for my classroom library. My kindergartners loved the illustrations and the use of Spanish mixed in with English.
The author slips in and out of the two languages, Spanish and English so easily. It is fantastic for my daughter's imagination. I love reading this to my 3-year old daughter. It is the best way to read a story. She is flying just like Rosalba, just like we all did when we were young.We also love her other book "Isla". The pictures are so colorful and full of detail. The language and tone is so fine.
They wave to the people and visit the Statue of Liberty. Aside from that, it's a great text, remenicient of Faith Ringgold's other kids-flying-above-New-York picture book, "Tar Beach". Yet I've never read a picture book that contains such remarkably colorful embellishments as I have in Arthur Dorros' 1991 treasure, "Abuela". The birds gone, the two could soar above factories, trains, people, and workers.
Lovely. On this particular day, the woman and the girl go to the park (Central Park, by the look of it) to feed the birds. If humans could fly, this is the best possible way they could look in sky.It is not possible to be disappointed with "Abuela". They hide delicate little intricacies on each and every page, just waiting for the viewer to find them. Kids that read this tale will be envious of Rosalba and her beloved grandmother.
"Abuela" is no different and though it may seem a little repetitive, I say it again. A beautiful story unencumbered by weight or gravity. There's a helpful dictionary of Spanish to English terms for those words and phrases in the text that kids (or adults) didn't quite understand. What follows is a story in which Rosalba describes the path the two could take while skimming across the sky. What if her Abuela simply leapt into the sky and flew too. To read this book is to experience something beautiful.Rosalba is quite close to her Grandmother or "Abuela" as she is called in Spanish. It's hard to resist the charms of a picture book filled to brimming with tiny fabulous details in a vast cityscape. The story itself is well told, though its definitely left unclear whether or not the fantastic events that take place in this book are true or false.
They race the sailboats, hitch a ride with an airplane, and hug on a cloud. The illustrations in this book are remarkable. What if the birds picked her up and started flying away with her. It's probably one of the reasons I love books like, "Who Needs Donuts." by Mark Stamaty or James Warhola's, "Uncle Andy's" so much. A pairing of the two during a storytime would not be out of place.When I write reviews of picture books, this paragraph tends to be the space where I say something along the lines of "Of course the book itself would be nothing without the pictures". While some books throw fabrics and other elements into their pictures in a distinctly slap-dash fashion, "Abuela" subtley works them into the context of the illustrations without distracting you or drawing your eye away from the action. The two often go on enjoyable trips around and about town, just for the heck of it. Then there are the thousands of details lining each and every page.
One of the best, without question, is L.M. Usually books of this nature are very precise. Finally, illustrator Elisa Kleven has imbued her main character with a great deal of liveliness. But "Abuela" is just as good in many ways. Whether it's Abuela's purple dotted purse or the fabric crested tops of buildings, the mixed-media here is perfectly melded to the story. What caught me off guard was the level of detail and the multitude of colors and fabrics lining the corners and seams of every page.
Plus the fact that everything is bright, colorful, and lively without ever straying into gaudy territory. Adults will coo at the pretty pictures and helpful text.
The book is a fun fancy-free encapsulation of the ultimate flight of fancy. "Vamos" Abuela says, and she takes her granddaughter's hand.There are quite a few remarkable Spanish/English picture books out there in the world today.
Rosalba and her Abuela dip and dive and swoop with perfect grace and poise. Taking a standard fantasy of wishing to fly, author Dorros and illustrator Elisa Kleven have given us a remarkable journey above a world too complex to capture in a single book.
This is perhaps the most subtle picture book I have ever seen in terms of how it uses mixed media. Gonzalez's, "The Bossy Gallito".
It's there that Rosalba begins to speculate a little. In the end, the two are back in the park and they decide to go on another adventure in a boat.
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