Voces en el Parque
Grade 2-What makes Voices in the Park (Transworld Publishers,  1998) so very interesting is its use of insightful humor both in  the text and in the illustrations. The book is comprised of one  story told in four voices from four very different perspectives.  A simple walk in the park is skillfully rendered from the point  of view of each walker (a mother and her son, a father and his  daughter). Each individual brings to the story his or her own  worldview and preoccupation. The mother sees the walk through  eyes filled with prejudice and fear. The boy is filled with shy  timidity. The father is a despondent figure, while his daughter  is all eager playfulness. The strangely static quality of the  illustrations is offset by slyly inserted comic elements (e.g.,  a whale's tail in the tree line, a school of clouds shaped like  fedoras, a tree in flames, tiny Mary Poppins figures floating in  a dark sky). The Spanish translation has one or two rough spots  where simpler words could have been chosen, but otherwise it is  solidly rendered. Recommended for all collections. M.O.B.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.