Hola Jalapeño and Mañana Iguana – 2 favorite children’s books!

I should’ve posted this in the previous entry about Cinco de Mayo, but I forgot.
I forget oh-so-many things these days!

In any case, it’s never too late to recommend a good book. The following are two of my daughter’s favorites, and just happen to be Latin-themed.

Mañana Iguana, by Ann Whitford Paul and illustrated by Ethan Long

This book is what inspired us to have our own “fiesta” last week. It’s like “The Little Red Hen,” but in the desert. The illustrations are great; so descriptive that Maya can practically tell the story herself, just by looking at the pictures. It’s one of the select bedtime books that we read almost every night.

Hola Jalapeño, by Amy Wilson Sanger

Hola Jalapeño
I say, hello my chile friend.
Señorita Quesadilla,
cheese is melting out your end…

The artwork in this book is beautiful and I love the rhythm of it. Being Mexican-American, it’s nice to be able to introduce my daughters to vocabulary that we definitely must know but don’t encounter that often. My only complaint is that it’s too short! This is a small, but sturdy, board-book; I would love to see something similar geared more towards preschoolers on up. Maybe it’s out there, just haven’t found it yet. Sanger has written an entire series of “World Snack” books. The next one on our to-buy list is the First Book of Sushi! I’ll let you know what I think of that one when the time comes.

*** A big THANK YOU to aunt Margaret for introducing us to “Hola Jalapeño.”

Lastly, this is not a book, but a big hit in baby’s toy box: LeapFrog Learn & Groove Counting Maracas. Sing, dance, count, and learn your colors, all in one small toy! Of the pair of maracas, one is a basic maraca that just rattles, the other is battery-powered and has 3 modes – numbers, colors, and music. Depending on the mode, each shake of the maraca leads to counting up from 1 to 10 in English or Spanish, or introduces 6 colors, also in both languages. It even lights up, which is absolutely spellbinding to baby in her dim bedroom.

I do warn against leaving these in baby’s crib – I awoke several mornings to loud banging before I was finally smart enough to remove them at night. I love the volume control option because the music and counting can get annoying after a while. The lowest setting is quiet tolerable. I do tend to tune this kind of “noise” out, but It turns itself off after a few minutes, so no worries. We’ve had it since Christmas and have yet to replace the batteries. Right now, the only problem we have is that older sis likes the electronic maraca, too. For now I just give baby the other maraca and that appeases her, but I don’t know how much longer she can be fooled!