Quinito, Day and Night/Quinito, dia y noche
Kindergarten-Grade 2—InQuinito's Neighborhood(Children's Book Press, 2005), an appealing youngster took readers on a tour of his community. Now he returns to introduce children to opposites as he experiences them with his family. Quinito is the middle child in a family full of extremes: his older brother runs "fast/rápido," whereas his baby sister runs "slowly/despacio"; his Papi is "neat/ordenado," but his brother is "very messy/muy desordenado." Quinito admits that he is a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but mostly, "I'm just me, Quinito/yo soy yo. Soy Quinito." Ramírez's stunning illustrations are characterized by the use of thick, splotchy paint on textured canvas, expressionistic lines, and vividly colored figures outlined in black. Numerous action words make this book a great read-aloud for children learning opposites or for those studying familiar opposite words in a second language. Simple vocabulary and clear and consistent text placement also render this title appropriate for newly independent readers. A bilingual glossary of opposite words is appended to ensure that nothing gets lost in the translation.—Madeline Walton-Hadlock, San Jose Public Library, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.