Kitchen Dance
PreSchool-Grade 2—A young girl lies in bed listening to the sounds emanating from the kitchen. "Scrape! Splash! Clunk! Clang!…Then something else—a deep voice humming a tune, and someone laughing." She wakes up her brother, Tito, "Oye! Do you hear?" Together they tiptoe down the stairs, peek into the kitchen, and gaze upon a playful and obviously happy couple. Their father is singing to their mother in Spanish and English, using a wooden spoon as a microphone, "Cómo te quiero! Oh how I love you." They dance around the kitchen drying dishes, opening and closing cabinets, oblivious to all except one another. Then Mama spots the two children. "Hola!" she says. She picks up the girl, Papa picks up the boy—now they all sing, "Oh, how I love you!" as they "twirl around and around in a circle of family." Faces nestled, the children grow sleepy and are carried back upstairs. "Sweet dreams." Full of vitality, simple, and touching, this picture book presents a celebration of family through words and expressive, exuberant pictures. Wonderful.—Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.