A Multicultural World of Books

I apologize for my odd absence, I’ve been traveling between San Francisco, Las Vegas, currently in Southern California and soon will be in Mexico (where besides being on vacation, hoping to find some books).

The book I am choosing to cover this time is Just a Minute: a trickster tale and counting book by Yuyi Morales, a Mexican American author/illustrator. Death comes for Abuela/Grandma on her old birthday, and she keeps stalling by finding things to bring to the party. She counts all the way to ten in Spanish, finding ten different things to gather.The book is filled with objects that will be familiar to readers whether spoken in Spanish or English, so while it is not bilingual, it does offer many words to learn in Spanish.

I was actually able to find this book being read out loud on YouTube, check it out here, albeit that the reader seems a little spooked for the first few seconds (it kind of made me chuckle) but I am very grateful that this type of review for a book exists for those that are wondering what certain books are about!

Death is getting impatient and eventually decides to leave, but promises to come back. This Pura Belpre award winner is popular for Dia de los Muertos or touching upon the subject of death in probably the most subtle way ever. But I think this book could easily fit in for every day reading.

Yuyi Morales has lots of other amazing books she illustrated and wrote, that are worth checking out and bringing home. Especially because a subject like Dia de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead is not a largely celebrated event outside of Mexico (perhaps in pockets of areas in recent times), so many children can learn a little about it even through this one book.