Friday, September 14, 2018

A Gift from Abuela by Cecilia Ruiz - ADVISABLE

A Gift from Abuela by Cecilia Ruiz. PICTURE BOOK. Candlewick Press, 2018. $16. 9780763692674

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) – ADVISABLE.  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

In Mexico City there is an Abuela who adores her Nina. They play together and have adventures together and eat pan dulce in the park together. One day Abuela starts saving money little by little to do something special for Nina, but eventually things get hard in Mexico and Abuela’s money is not worth anything anymore. Nina, however, does not care about the money and is happy just to spend time with Abuela. 

This book is a great reminder that people matter so much more than money. For how peaceful and cute the illustrations and text are, the political lessons in this book are jarring. It is not often that a picture book shows how money’s worth can change and how an entire economy can shift for the worst. I think it works though - peeking interest in understanding experiences beyond our own.  

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to Kiss the Book Jr.!

Welcome! Kiss the Book Jr. is for board books, picture books, early readers, and chapter books.  Also, any novels and non-fiction that we ag...