We’ve been trying to read to the girls more. Agnes’ mom has been bringing over a bunch of children’s books that she’s collected over the years. So far, the one I like best is A Child’s First Book of Poems. The book has big pages and lots of pictures. I particularly like the poems by Aileen Fisher. They’re clear, and fun, and easy to read.
As we started to go through the books, we decided it would be nice to get some of the real classics–you know, The Hungry Catepillar, Curious George, Green Eggs and Ham, etc. Agnes went on Amazon and placed an order. A few days later, a box arrived. We opened it up and found these books:
- Donde Viven los Monstruos
- Buenas Noches, Luna
- Jorge el Curioso
- ?Eres Mi Mama?
- Oruga Muy Hambrienta
- Huevos Verdes con Jamón
If your Spanish is a little rusty, that’s Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight, Moon, Curious George, Are You My Mother?, The Hungry Catepillar, and Green Eggs and Ham. Agnes figured that they don’t yet understand what we’re reading to them, and since she needs to speak Spanish at her work, she may as well brush up on it as she’s reading to the girls.
On the other hand, my Spanish is terrible (I took a trimester of it in Junior High). You should see me struggling through these books. It’s like I’m just learning to read. The girls get bored before I make it through any of these books, and Agnes laughs at my pronunciation. Sometimes, I try to just translate the books on the fly, but I only know some of the books well enough to do that. In particular, I can’t quite get through The Hungry Catepillar that way.
We’ll see. I may just place another order at Amazon for the English-language versions of all of these books. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to have the girls hear a little (mangled) Spanish.