Product Description

This jewel-like vignette from Sandra Cisneros's bestselling The House on Mango Street shows, through simple, intimate portraits, the diversity among us. The beautiful descriptions and free-spirited illustrations perfectly capture the spontaneous, naive perceptions of a child who finds security within her loving family. In English and Spanish. Full color.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2141930 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: School & Library Binding

From Publishers Weekly
"Everybody in our family has different hair"/ "Todos en nuestra familia tenemos pelo diferente," begins this rhythmic, bilingual picture book taken from acclaimed novelist/short-story writer Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Yba?ez expands upon the diversity theme by rendering the family members in a variety of unusual skin tones as well as with distinctive hairstyles. Purple-faced Papa has hair "like a broom,/ all up in the air," while Nettie's "slippery" orange hair contrasts vividly with her blue skin. The narrator waxes lyrical on the subject of Mama's hair: "sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, [it] is the warm smell of bread before you bake it." Each spread is framed by bright borders ornamented with everyday objects-shoes and bikes; steaming cups of coffee; dice, jacks and jumpropes. Inside, the characters seem to float across swirling blocks of color. A spirited and buoyant celebration of individuality and of the bonds within families. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 2-6. Great for reading aloud, this vignette from Cisneros' House on Mango Street (1984) is told in the voice of a young Latina. The words are simple, intimate, and poetic and appear in English at the top of each page, in Spanish at the bottom. (Unfortunately the Spanish translation is occasionally poor, although for the most part, it maintains the lyrical childlike quality of the English text.) The brilliantly colored art perfectly expresses the child's world, both domestic and magical, with a realism rooted in the feelings and physical particulars of family life. The child talks about the hair--and personality--of each person in her home. Papa's hair is like a stiff broom "all up in the air." Her own hair is "lazy. It never obeys barrettes or braids." But best of all is Mama's hair "that smells like bread" when she's holding you and you feel safe. The bold, energetic paintings and their contrasting borders mix objects from home and neighborhood that reflect the diversity within the family and within each personality. Children will recognize the physicalness of the images, especially the cozy sense of home when there's a storm outside. Hazel Rochman

Review
Excerpted from Cisneros' novel, The House on Mango Street, and published bilingually as a children's book, here a young girl describes her family, consisting of her parents, two brothers and a sister, using their different hair textures to express their individuality. The descriptors - slippery, like fur, thick and straight - are neutral but the accompanying illustrations- using colors not found in 'real' skin and hair - underscore the author's affection for her family and her appreciation of their differences. She ends the story with a sensuous evocation of her mother's smell and touch and the sounds and feelings of safety conjured by being in bed at home on a rainy night.

Reviewed by Ina Rimpau, Parents' Choice® 2000 -- From Parents' Choice®