¡Fiesta!

April 1, 2024
What are the colors of a fiesta? The whole rainbow! Tonatiuh adds another book to his concepts series, this time focusing on the lively colors and vocabulary related to fiestas. Readers will delight in this vibrant journey that skillfully blends language, culture, and color into a bilingual celebration. Music, food, and colors take center stage in Tonatiuh's signature digital collage artwork. Shapes leap from the page with rich textures borrowed from a variety of everyday sources. Yellow corn (elote amarillo), a purple dress (vestido morado), a blue shawl (rebozo azul), a green Popsicle (paleta verde), and more connect readers to Mexican culture while also helping them to identify colors in two languages. Simple labels in Spanish and repeated in English appear on each page. Latine characters are depicted with brown and black hair and a spectrum of brown skin tones. One wheelchair user is included in the cast. Tonatiuh's author's note--presented in both English and Spanish--explains that the book portrays a street festival, like those that mark Mexico's Independence Day and Mexican Revolution Day, or like the ones held in the United States during Hispanic Heritage Month or Cinco de Mayo. A delightful work, brimming with cultural and educational value. (Concept book. 2-5)

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January 1, 2024
An inviting introduction to English and Spanish color names and Mexican/Mexican American celebrations. Each bilingual spread in this board book highlights an item of a different color ("enchiladas rojas," "blue shawl," "sombreros negros") typically found at a fiesta, followed by a cheerful scene of the item in use. The text culminates with "Una fiesta de colores! // A festival of colors!" featuring everyone and everything from the preceding pages.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)