Ana Zamorano

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because of the language throughout. The book included mainly words in English, but on each page it had a word in Spanish, usually being the food they were going to be eating that night. For example, every night before the eat Mama says "Ay, qué pena! What a pity," because every night, one family member is doing something that allows them to not make it to dinner that night. Another reason why I enjoyed this book was because of the repetitive nature in the story. Not every page had the exact same words but had the same concept which would allow for a young reader to follow along with the story. Every night a different dinner would be made and then every night a different family member would not make it to dinner, until finally at the end of the story, the entire family is together again for dinner. One reason I did not enjoy this book was because of the illustrations. Even though they went along with the book, I feel as though the illustration should have been what the family would have been eating that night because that was the word written in Spanish. For the students who do not know what these Spanish words are that are reading, they might have no idea what is going to be made for dinner and although it is not that important that they know, they might be curious. The message of this story is family and how it is important for families to come together and in this culture how dinner is an important part of the day because everyone is finally together after being apart all day.… (mehr)