Grandma's Pear Tree/El Peral de Abuela
Sunday, May 20, 2012
by: Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo

Section: Children's Book Reviews


April 2010 Newsletter

Reviewed by Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo is an Assistant & Foster-EBSCO Endowed Professor School of Library & Information Studies University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in Communication and Information Studies from the University of Alabama and holds a Masters of Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama.

 After getting his ball stuck in his Abuela’s pear tree, a young boy asks various family members for help. Each of them give him advice on how to get the ball out of the tree but their suggestions only make matters worse. The simple vocabulary of the text is appropriate for the intended audience; however, the character dialog seems unnatural with Spanish words being repeated after their English equivalent and at times there are gaps in the text that will not be easy for early readers to follow. In addition, Spanish words are highlighted in a different color than the surrounding English text. In some instances, the chosen color makes the Spanish text hard to read against the background of the page. While the cartoon illustrations carry a certain charm about them, they are not consistent with the story, going from day to night and back to day with no logical explanation. Not Recommended.
Grandmas Pear Tree/El peral de abuela. Suzanne Santillan. Illus. by Atilio Pernisco. Trans. by Cambridge BrickHouse. McHenry, IL: Raven Tree Press, 2010. 32 pp. $16.95 (Hardcover). ISBN 978-1-934960-80-6. Grades K-2. English with some Spanish.
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