This week's addition of What my child is reading will focus on Day of the Dead related books. If you would like to learn more about Day of the Dead click here.
This was the favorite book of the week. Pablo Remembers is about a little boy and his family in Mexico getting prepared for a Day of the Dead celebration. The year before Pablo's grandmother passed away and they are going to build an altar to honor her. The family first goes to the market place to buy the items that they will cook and put on the family's altar. I used this book to show D what a typical Day of the Dead celebration consist of. The family cooks tamales, buys Dead bread (I will talk about this later in the week) and calaveras de dulce or sugar skulls, and builds a beautiful altar with photos of the deceased, candles, flowers, and all of the items that his grandmother loved while on Earth. Finally, the family gathers at the cemetery to decorate the tombstone with flowers and pay their respects. This book is entirely in English and a bit advanced for a pre-schooler. However, I would recommend it to a parent who wants to learn more about Day of the Dead and then use the pictures to explain the celebration to the child.
The illustrations alone in this book are worth checking it out. This is another book that takes you through the preparations for Day of the Dead. It is mostly in English with a few words in Spanish that are easy to figure out the meaning.
This book takes you through the letters of the alphabet in Spanish using beautiful artwork and skeletal characters. There is a glossary to help you understand the words but I do not think that you will need to use it much if you look at the illustrations.
If you want to find out what others are reading this week head over to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.
I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your blog and I've passed an award on to you! You can pick it up by visiting my blog. :-)
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating to learn about a different tradition for Halloween. In my country we didn't celebrate it at all when I was a child, but now it's also a Remembrance Day for the Dead.
ReplyDeleteExcellent information! It looks like you all are having a lot of fun with your Day of the Dead celebration!
ReplyDeleteKathleen
El Rincón Espanol
It's so important to teach culture along with language--language doesn't exist in a vacuum. I like your idea of focusing on a different element about Dia de los Muertos on each day on your blog this week! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat great recommendations to teach children about cultural traditions that they may be unfaimilar with.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information. I have never heard of The Day of the Dead. I will be following your blog to learn more.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reviews of the Day of the Dead books, and the alphabet book sounds really cute too!
ReplyDeleteI am excited to check out the alphabet book!
ReplyDeleteBeing part Hispanic (and also Apache), I grew up knowing about the traditions of Mexico in honoring the dead. I think that it is interesting for children to read and learn about other customs.
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