Tito The Firefighter:Tito El B
Grade 1-3–Tito, an energetic eight-year-old, lives in New York City. He is fascinated by the local firefighters and dreams of riding in their truck. He stops by the firehouse every day to chat with Richie, his favorite firefighter. It is fortunate that Tito is bilingual, for Richie speaks not a word of Spanish, which proves a liability when an agitated Spanish speaker shows up. Tito is able to translate–and gets a ride in the fire engine to boot. That the fire turns out to be nothing more than a pot of burned rice may strike children as a bit of a letdown, but the story is a refreshing slice of life. The Prismacolor pencil illustrations, enhanced by Adobe Illustrator, have a fuzzy-edged look that puts them just this side of anime. However, the bright color, activity, and realism give them considerable child appeal. With only 17 red highlighted Spanish words and phrases embedded in the English text, this book may have some application in ELL programs and could be used in conjunction with Chris L. Demarest's more informativeFirefighters A to Z(S & S, 2000) to create a storytime on these local heroes.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.