From School Library Journal
Gr 2-5-This zesty look at idioms sheds light on turns of phrase in both languages. Brightly colored, kinetic cut-paper pictures illustrate each version of the sayings. The Spanish text, which includes examples from many dialects, is located at the top of the page. Accurate English translations are at the bottom. The whole makes for an explanation of idioms that is as much visual as verbal and would provide a good bilingual follow-up to English language works such as Fred Gwynne's A Little Pigeon Toad (S & S, 1990) or Marvin Terban's In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms (Clarion, 1983). A Web site allows the Internet savvy to access an expanded list of idioms. This book is a great starting place for understanding figures of speech that cross language barriers.-Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes
Text: Spanish, English (translation)

Card catalog description
Demonstrates the different ways people look at the same situations by presenting contrasting idiomatic expressions in both English and Spanish. Example: Someone important is a "big wheel" in English but a "fat fish" in Spanish.

About the Author
Author/Illustrator: Nancy María Grande Tabor She is the author of several bilingual books for Charlesbridge, including El gusto del mercado mexicano/A Taste of the Mexican Market (1996), Somos un arcos iris/We Are A Rainbow(1995), Cincuenta en la cebra/Fifty on the Zebra(1994), and Albertina anda arriba/Albertina Goes Up(1992). Bottles Breakwill be available from Charlesbridge in spring 1999. Nancy is currently a bilingual teacher in Sonoma, California. She often speaks at schools, libraries, and conferences to emphasize the need for language-rich books in Spanish. She stresses the importance of understanding other cultures and the reflection of culture through literature in both her presentations and her books.

ANNOTATION

Demonstrates the different ways people look at the same situations by presenting contrasting idiomatic expressions in both English and Spanish. Example: Someone important is a "big wheel" in English but a "fat fish" in Spanish.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Susan Hepler

Twelve idioms are contrasted in bilingual text and illustrated with simple collages. It is "raining by jugs" in Spanish or "Raining cats and dogs" in English; you "throw daisies to the pigs" in Spanish and "pearls before swine" in English. Undistinguished cut paper illustrations show an animal taking the cake, or "empiezas la casa por el tejado" (building the house from the roof down) or standing with head in the clouds. The book calls attention to the many way people say things and would make a good companion to Spanish or English language study or to introducing the vagaries of a language to non-native speakers.

Bonnie Fowler - Bookbag Magazine