Diane Gonzales BertrandCritiques

Young Daniel doesn't share his dad's excitement over going to the family reunion. What's the big deal? It's just going to be a bunch of old people he doesn't know, sitting around and telling stories about other old people he doesn't know. Once there, though, Daniel is in for several pleasant surprises.

SS
Mom prepares soup and the rest of the family buys tortillas. A recipe for soup.

This book is written in both English and Spanish. It talks about the objects and the people involved in the party, and how it is celebrated. Each page adds a new sentence to the story.

This book explains my cousins and me. My cousins see each other more as brothers and sister than a cousin. All the activities they did in this book, we do. We have sleepover even in our 20's and we all cram in one room. Nothing is better than family.

I love reading bilingual books like this one because I can read them with my children as they are learning the languages I already know. It was easy to match the sentences from the side my children read to the side I read and vice versa. I can also read this book to my children with the part they can read covered so they can determine what the story is saying by pictures and the way the story sounds when I read it, just as they learned to read and understand English before it became their first language. The colors of the pictures were vibrant and the choices of activities for la fiesta were activities that happen at many parties, so learning these action words, nouns, and other parts of speech would be easily learned useful again in life.

I am taking off one star because I feel like the story ended too abruptly. It seemed like at least one more page was needed to talk about leaving the party.

I can't completely put my finger on it, but something about this story seems unoriginal and even cliche. While the message about friendship and acceptance is always important and appreciated, the way it is presented seems outdated and mediocre writing. I admit I am surprised it won the Schneider Family Book Award, although it is meaningful that you do not know he uses a wheelchair until the last page, showing his disability doesn't make him "less than". He is a boy with interests and hobbies just like most people have. Other than this, however, I find the book neither great nor horrible. It is run of the mill for me.½

I was really surprised at the message this story was pushing because it was very positive, but it wasn't politically correct. I figured that the story would be about how Sofia makes her own dress that fits her body, but it was about Sofia improving her lifestyle. Many American kids will be overweight at some point in their childhood, and maybe if they read a story like this they'd be motivated to make some positive changes.

I enjoy this book because of its translations so that students who speak Spanish also have that as we go so they can keep up with the story and enjoy it with the class and be able to participate in discussions.

I loved this story! I will be reading this to my students! It shows students not only about disabilities but also about the spanish culture and friendship. It can be read in a special education classroom as well as a regular education classroom.

This book could be used for ELL because many can relate to Daniel in the story. Young Daniel doesn't share his dad's excitement over going to the family reunion. What's the big deal? It's just going to be a bunch of old people he doesn't know, sitting around and telling stories about other old people he doesn't know. Once there, though, Daniel is in for several pleasant surprises. Age Range: 6 - 9 years
Grade Level: 1 - 4

This book is a very helpful book when it comes to having a ELL student in your class, they can follow along in the Spanish print which helps. I also liked this book because everyone can relate to cousins, or family members. I would recommend this book to others to read because, it is short and down to the point. It also has large print for students to read along with teacher as well as large pictures to view.

Pasta Dura

A boy relates all the good times and activities he shares with his friend Victor, who is great at telling stories, swimming, and loves roller coaster rides. At book's end, we see that Victor gets around in a wheelchair, and we know that Victor likes his friend just the way he is.

Fun celebratory tale showing the care of family and friends to ensure that Papa Luis has a special day. I was happy to find this book in our school library collection. I feel a connection to the former librarians when I find books showing diversity as if we all are trying to supply our students with varied cultural experiences.
Curricular Connections:
*How do you celebrate-brainstorm varied holidays and traditions
*What does your family do to prepare for parties- making "to do" lists
*Have a library celebration complete with decorations from the book- The Party for... Our School Library"
*Compare Cumulative Stories-The House that Jack Built, The Napping House, Today is Monday

Realistic fiction: Great story about two best friends who have a lot of fun being friends. The book talks about all their wild adventures they have and all the fun things they do. At the end of the story you find out that one of them is on a wheel chair but that don't stop them from having a great time.

This is a wonderful story about two best friends who do everything together they swim play ball ride roller coasters tell stories have sleep overs and they like eachother very much just the way they are because one is in a wheel chair.
ages 4,5,6
pierce college library

In these 10 short stories, readers are introduced to various characters trying to find their way through circumstances life has thrown at them. These stories span the range of teen feelings and, though short, are ones to which readers will be able to relate. Read the rest of the review on my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/theres-a-name-for-this-feelin...

Summary: A bilingual book (English and Spanish) about a family getting together for 4th of July.

Justification: Shows diversity and teaches students about different cultures ad how they celebrate on July 4th. This is great for ELL students.

Grade: Primary

Bertrand, Diane G. and Howard, Pauline R. illustrator. Family, Familia. Texas: Pinata Books, 1999.

Characters: Daniel Gonzalez and the Gonzalez family.

Setting: San Antonio, Texas at a public park.

Theme: Family

Genre: Young Fiction, foreign (Spanish) language.

Golden Quote: “Nuestros abuelos produjeron seis hijos y ellos tuvieron hijos y nietos. No debemos olivdar que todos venimos del mismo tronco, que somos ramas de un arbol fuerte: Viva la familia Gonzalez”

Summary: Daniel is a young boy that lives in Kingsville, Texas. His father informs him that during the summer they will be traveling to San Antonio, Texas for a family reunion. Daniel is not too thrilled about the idea and he believes that there will only be a few old people there that he will not know. When he gets to San Antonio, he realizes just how big his family really was. There were so many kids and adults there and Daniel ended up befriending one of his cousins. The family reunion opened up Daniel’s eyes and showed him how important family really is.

Audience: 3rd grade.

Curriculum ties: This book could be used to introduce a foreign language and can also be used on younger audience to show the importance of family.

Personal response: The book contains both English and Spanish text, placing the English text on the top page while having the Spanish text on the bottom of the page. The illustrations are very descriptive and tell the story without the reader having to read the actual text. One of the things I found fascinating about the illustrations was how the artist depicted members of the Gonzalez family. If Benito Gonzalez was your great-grandfather, you wore a red name tag otherwise your tag was white. The illustrations showed the different ways people can look even though they share the same grandfather. This story has a very strong emphasis placed on family, whether you know them or not. Overall, if the English text was not part of this book, just by the descriptive illustrations, you would know the story the author was trying to tell anyways.

I enjoyed this book very much. This is a terific book to read to young children. The illustrations were beautifully done. I especially liked the way the author wrote in English and Spanish. She was very descriptive and made the story interesting.In addition the story had humor that children could enjoy and relate to. I recommend this book. I give it five stars!

Good for storytime, a little long.

Personal Response: I enjoyed reading this story, especially when Daniel and Brian become friends.
Curricular Response: Students could read this story and then compose their own short stories. The teacher could help them translate them into Spanish or into another language.

My Pal, Victor/Mi Amigo, Victor is a bilingual story of two best friends, Dominic and Victor. Dominic and Victor do everything together, from inventing stories, to telling jokes, to riding rollercoasters. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Victor is in a wheelchair. An interesting twist? Dominic says that Victor likes him just the way he is, instead of the other way around.

This book would be a wonderful resource for libraries to introduce children to disablities. Victor is never shown as having limitations, instead participating in all the activities that Dominic does. Since it is written bilingually, librarians could also use this book to introduce some basic Spanish to young readers. It would also be a great book to have in areas that are heavily Spanish-speaking to begin with. All in all, this book will help able-bodied readers to realize that people with disabilities are just like them and can enjoy all the things that they enjoy.