Las gallinas de la señora Sato tells a simple story in Spanish with both sequence and repetition. It moves through the days of the week and describes what the narrator finds each day as she visits Mrs. Sato’s hens.
El domingo fui a ver las gallinas de la señora Sato. On Sunday I went to see Mrs. Sato’s hens.
El lunes contamos dos huevos blancos. On Monday we counted two white eggs.
El martes contamos tres huevos color café. On Tuesday we counted three brown eggs.
The rest of the week brings more eggs, a surprise on Saturday, and practical Spanish language in simple sentences. I read this book to my children when they were small and was always impressed by the amount of useful, natural Spanish in the story. Also, my children liked the book!
Diez, nueve, ocho is a lovely bedtime book. It counts down to bedtime beginning with 10 deditos lindos, limpios y calentitos (word-for-word translation: ten small toes, pretty, clean and warm). Molly Bang’s illustrations are bright and inviting, and the translation by Clarita Kohen is masterful, maintaining the warmth and rhythm of the original text.
I like that both of these books are exclusively in Spanish. There are many good dual language books, and they certainly can be valuable. However, in these two books, the illustrations support the text beautifully. If there are words you don’t know, you can look them up online, and then provide your child a reading experience where Spanish is truly the language of communication.
Enjoy these wonderful books with your child!
