Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

Valentina Cruz was born on the island of Floreana in 1971. Valentina and her family "have always been involved in protecting the Galápagos" (author's note); Valentina became a biologist and did research in the Galápagos and served as a naturalist guide. Galápagos Girl shows how love of the natural world, open-minded curiosity, and a desire to protect fragile animals and plants led Valentina to meaningful work as an adult.

Text is in English, then Spanish. Illustrations by Angela Dominguez (Marta Big and Small, Mango Abuela and Me) are clean and bright; the setting and animals are depicted accurately as far as I can tell. Back matter includes an author's note, "about the Galapagos Islands," fun facts about Galápagos animals, and a bibliography. ( )

This book is about a real life person named Valentina. She was born into a large family of 11 brothers and sisters on an island called Floreana part of the Galapagos Islands. While growing up she learned and loved all of the plants and animals on the island and played with them everyday. One day her father tells her that many people kill animals for food and leave few to none left, this is where she made her promise to never forget her island and always protect its animals. Even when she leaves her island to attend school she always came back and continued learning about each animal. She grew up to attend a college and earned a degree in biology and returned to her island to become a tour guide that showed people the many wonders of the Galapagos Islands and the importance of protecting its beauty. The author met this wonderful biologist and wrote a book in both English and Spanish and captured the true essence of what it means to live on an island, fall in love with it, and want to protect it, ( )

A fun and interesting read. Every page has both English and Spanish, so there are options on how to read this book. It's about a girl named Valentina who lives and grows up in the Galapagos. The book introduces us to the animals there and it is explained that the islands and animals are in danger from people who don't understand, and that the animals and islands need to be protected. Valentina goes to school to become a biologist, returns, and educates visitors about conserving the animals and islands. The illustrations are very pretty. Learning about the islands on the Galapagos are fun and seeing the animals that live there is also very fun and interesting. ( )