Review: ¿Cómo estás, pequeño Panda?

It's certainly a pleasure to be writing my first book review for the Latin Baby Book Club. I am not a Latin mami on the outside, but the Spanish language and the cultures of the peoples who speak it are a major part of my life as I've been studying the language for 19 years and teaching it for six. I had a baby girl, Zoe, last May, and we are doing the one-parent, one-language approach with her, so I only speak Spanish to her unless I want someone around me to understand what I'm saying. Accordingly, Zoe has more Spanish books than English and her favorite is the one I've chosen for my first review.



¿Cómo estas, pequeño Panda?, written by Marie Helene-Delval and illustrated by Thierry Courtin is part of the Palabras Menudas series of boardbooks and you can purchase it from Amazon here.
The point of the book is really to use phrases useful for telling how someone is doing. In the storyline, pequeño Panda has a nice red tricycle, but a strange little bear comes and takes it away. No worries, though--the bear's papi returns the tricycle so Panda can speed down an incline safely, very proud of himself.
Pequeño Panda has been Zoe's favorite from the very beginning. Part of what makes it such a good book for young babies is that the star is a panda, and of course black-and-white contrasts are what young babies see best. Zoe cannot stand being on her stomach, but by propping her on her support pillow and putting the open Panda book in front of her, we were able to get her to at least do a little tummy time. The page she's contemplating in this picture is her favorite page, I'm guessing because it has the most going on. This where the Papi gives the tricycle back to Panda.



And of course, sometimes you just need a break to chill and contemplate this new information.



I hope you and your baby enjoy ¿Cómo estás, pequeño Panda?