My Little Car/Mi Carrito by Gary Soto

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a book by Gary Soto that we hadn’t read before. My Little Car/Mi Carrito is a hilarious story that had my kids giggling from the beginning. It is about what happens to little Teresa after she receives her own carrito for her birthday. A gift from her abuelo, the carrito is a flashy little lowrider and Teresa (who’s a wee bit fiesty) really enjoys pedaling it all over town and showing it off to her friends and neighbors. But soon she learns a lesson about why it is important to take good care of the things you love.


Soto has a fluid writing style and a funny imagination. His command of conversational writing is used to develop his characters. Together, these elements make Mi Carrito a perfect read-aloud book. It is written in English with some Spanish words embedded in the text. However, I would classify this book as more “bicultural” than “bilingual” though there is a small glossary in the front of the book.

Pam Paparone is the illustrator and has done such a great job. The details that she includes in each illustration really give an authentic feel to the book, as well as a touch of humor. As I looked at some of the pictures, I was reminded of my own childhood (my abuela had a painting of the Last Supper hanging on her living room wall, too!) I think it is so wonderful that we are now able to read books that reflect multicultural backgrounds like ours.

At any rate, if you’d like to purchase your own copy of Mi Carrito, 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.