Alma Head to Toe / Alma de pies a cabeza, the bilingual board book by Juana Martinez-Neal, hit shelves on September 5 and I highly recommend it for anyone who is raising bilingual children or has bilingual children in their lives. It’s the kind of sweet bilingual board book that I wish I would have had when my kids were toddlers.
More from MamásLatinas: ‘Elena Rides’ is perfect for making early readers believe that they can!
As soon as I got pregnant with my first child, I promised myself that I would do everything that I could so that my child would grow up being bilingual. For some families that might be easy to do, but for our family it wasn’t because although I am bilingual, my husband is not and I don’t have any Spanish-speaking extended family members that live nearby. Bilingual board books helped me out so much.
Allow me to share what makes Alma Head to Toe so special.
Let’s start with Alma.
Alma is a joyful, adorable child who wears a signature pair of red and white horizontal striped pants. She is drawn simply with soft black lines and pops of red here and there, like on her pants, cheeks, the bow on her head, and her string bracelet.
Children will learn body parts in both English and Spanish.
From head to toe, Alma’s body parts are labeled in both English and Spanish. The English is in black lettering and the Spanish is in red lettering, making it easy to differentiate and point out.
Alma also shares a bit of her life and personality in conversational narration.
She has a cure little bird that she loves and holds tenderly in her hand as she says:
“Pajarito, you are as soft as a flower!
¡Pajarito, eres tan suave como una flor!”
About the author and where you can buy the book.
Peruvian-born Juana Martinez-Neal made her debut as an author-illustrator with Alma and How She Got Her Name, which was awarded a Caldecott Honor and published in Spanish as Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre.
You can find* Alma Head to Toe / Alma de pies a cabeza* at retailers everywhere including Amazon, Target, and Barnes & Noble.
