Luna

A couple of months ago, a reader asked for more reviews of beginner Spanish books. I immediately knew which book I would review next: Luna, written by Antonio Rubio and illustrated by Óscar Villán.

It's a short book, and it is made up of precious few words. The first half reads as follows:

Luna Luna Luna, Luna Luna Sol.
Luna Luna Luna, Luna Caracol.
Luna Luna Luna, Luna Girasol.
Luna Luna Luna, Luna Luna Sol.

The publisher calls it a "pictograma poético," and the rhythm of the words is meant to "educar el ojo y endulzar el oído," explains Rubio. As a matter of fact, the text from the book quoted above does not come close to doing it justice, because really, you need to actually hold the book in your hands to appreciate its simple beauty. It is a sturdy board book, and each verse is spread out over two pages. Over each word--all of them are written in capital letters--is a bright picture of the word (the picture of the moon on the cover is the one used throughout the book). From the first time I read it, I was taken--the rhythm is so soothing, and I was surprised to find the inflection of my voice changing constantly, unexpectedly, naturally. It made it very, very fun to read to my children.

My boys were as charmed by the book as I was, and for good reason. The book is designed especially for children aged 0-3, and after just a couple of readings, my kids could "read" it by themselves, just by following the pictures. My kids liked to do this, but they especially loved having me read all the "lunas" while they "read" the last word of each verse. I think slightly older English-speakers learning Spanish might feel quite a sense of accomplishment upon reading the entire book in Spanish themselves, as well.

I was lucky enough to find this book at a library sale when my children were three, and we got a lot of mileage out of it before they outgrew it. I'm sorry I didn't know about it when they were smaller, especially because this is one of five books in a series called De la cuna a la luna. (Other titles in the series: Miau, Cinco, Cocodrilo and Pajarita de papel.) I couldn't quite justify getting those, but you can bet that if my boys had been any younger, I would have checked them out. No matter--I loved this book so much that I recently decided to console myself by ordering one of Rubio's books of poetry geared towards older children.

And maybe that will be my next review.