Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19719 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-27
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Board book
• 14 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780689866524
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Sandra  Boynton is a popular American humorist, songwriter, children's author and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated more than forty books for both children and adults, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and four music albums. Although she does not license her characters to be redrawn or adapted, she has herself designed—for various companies—calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys.

Customer Reviews

Buy the English version only!
"The Going to Bed Book" is a favorite of my little nephew. I've read it to him since he was an infant ... but he doesn't know almost any English. So you can imagine I looked forward to the Spanish version, so that I could read both to him for some bilingual cuddle time. BIG MISTAKE! This translation is one of the worst I've ever seen in terms of capturing the spirit of the original.

Sure, in literal terms, the following express the same dictionary meaning:
(English) "They hang their towels on the wall / and find pajamas, big and small."
(Spanish, back-translated) "They hang their towels on the wall / and look for pajamas, big and little, as you can see."
(Cuelgan las toallas en la pared / y buscan piyamas grandes y pequeñas, como se ve.)

Gone is the rhyme. Gone is the use of small, familiar words so the child can pretend to "read" along. There's an occasional rhyme ("resquicio" / "ejercicio"), but for the most part it's a charmless and clumsy butchering of the text we loved so much.

You may think it's asking too much to expect a translated version to be as good as the original. It's not. Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham is delightful in Spanish. Sandra Boynton's own Moo, Baa, La, La, La has a Spanish translation that's as precious and easy to read as you could ever want (see my review of Muú, Beee, Así Fue). It's tricky work and requires careful substitution, but it can be done if a company does what is necessary to secure a good translation. This time they didn't -- maybe next time they will.

Low quality board book - a bit disappointed
Was excited to find this book and give to my nephew but the board is really thin and cheap. I have an 8 mos. old now and know how important it is for the board books to be tough and sturdy. The text and pictures themselves are fine.

Good practice for any age
I read the one-star review, and I think it's a bit harsh. To translate and rhyme is quite difficult, and Spanish is not as easy to rhyme in when you have a prescribed sentence to convey.

So, sure, it's not the easiest, simplest form to read, but I do believe the spirit of the English version is still intact. My children, students, and I all enjoy this book, and read it regularly for fun, and also for extra practice for their Spanish reading skills. My older students enjoy translating it and using it to practice grammatical structures.

All in all, Boynton does a great job with the pictures and stories, and I believe the translation is as good as it could be really - it depends on the reader and the voice inflection. Huevos Verdes con jamón is by far the BEST translated rhyming book I've seen, though. El gato en el sombrero is WAY worse than this.... so I think it's worth having in your library.

Sra. Gose
Spanish teacher, Mother of five, Author
Flip Flop Spanish Workbooks