March BOM: José-Luis Orozco's Diez Deditos

Diez Deditos & Other Play Rhymes and Action Songs from Latin America
By José-Luis Orozco
Illustrated by Elisa Kleven

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The LBBC’s recommendation for February’s Libro del Mes, is José-Luis Orozco’s Diez Deditos.

As Lydia mentioned in the previous post, sharing songs and rhymes is super important for helping children build literacy skills and learn cultural norms. In our opinion, one of the best books on the market for teaching Spanish folksongs and finger plays is Diez Deditos. It contains 34 play songs and finger rhymes that are popular in the Spanish-speaking world. Orozco has carefully selected pieces with lively tunes and engaging story lines. Each song includes the musical arrangement to help teachers find the right tune and rhythm. But what I like best is that the book also has simple diagrams/illustrations for each to show the accompanying actions.

It is really hard to choose just one piece to share with you, so instead I narrowed it down to two. Both are fun little finger plays with important lessons. The first is called Mi Familia:

"Este chiquito es mi hermanito.
Esta es me mamá.
Este altito es mi papá.
Esta es me hermana.
Y este(a) chiquito(a) y bonito(a) soy yo."

Sweet, easy for children to relate to, and most importantly, it begins teaching masculine/ feminine concepts for Spanish words. As with all the songs in the book, there is an English translation.

The second piece is called Cinco Pollitos. It is funny and has great rhyming and rhythm structure.

"Cinco pollitos tiene mi tía.
Uno le canta,
Otro le pía.
Y tres le tocan la sinfonía."

The illustrations are colorful and full of action. Elisa Kleven is the illustrator for Abuela and Isla by Arthur Dorros, as well as Hooray, a Piñata, which Dana reviewed here.

Parents and teachers cannot possibly go wrong with this book. It is certainly a must have for any bilingual family’s library. If you would like to buy your own copy of Diez Deditos, please click here. Or you can follow the link in our sidebar to the LBBC’s on-line store. We have both new and gently used copies available.