Tons of Palabras: Comida

September 15, 2022
A bilingual Spanish-English picture dictionary, with a close-up on food. Bright, bold, and simple illustrations depict food, divided into categories such as "Las frutas y verduras / Fruits & Vegetables," "Los dulces y bebidas / Sweets & Beverages," "Los platillos / Dishes," "Las botanas / Snacks." Some fruit--among them guan�bana (soursop), maracuy� (passion fruit), and mamey (mammee apple)--will not necessarily be familiar to all children, but many will be aware of these mouthwatering foods. Each item is first named in Spanish followed by the English equivalent. There has been an effort to include the different regional variations in names ("el pl�tano / el guineo / el cambur / banana"; "la calabaza / la auyama / el zapallo / el ayote / pumpkin") and to feature food typical of some countries, such as "chicha morada" from Peru and "arepas" from Colombia and Venezuela. In general, though, Mexican foods and names prevail, such as the words for the categories "botanas" for snacks or "platillos" for main dishes. There are two mistakes: Alubias and jud�as are defined here as "cannellini beans," but they in fact refer to beans in general; fried rice is not "arroz chufa" but "arroz chaufa." Adults reading with little ones must be familiar with the words as there is no pronunciation guide. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An attractive and useful vocabulary-building tool. (Board book. 3-5)

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