JUAN BOBO:FOUR FOLKTALES FROM PUERTO RICO(HARPERCOLLINS, 1994)
JUAN BOBO:FOUR FOLKTALES FROM PUERTO RICO
(HARPERCOLLINS, 1994)
Recognitions:
Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books.
A Child Study Children’s Book Committee’s Children’s Book of the Year.
A Las Americas Book of the Year
National Reviews:
“True to their oral tradition, these tales from rural Puerto Rico are told with immediacy and spirit...New readers will enjoy the dialogue and the general silliness. Younger children will enjoy hearing these stories read aloud.” Hazel Rochman, Booklist
“Four charming folktales about Puerto Rico’s beloved noodlehead, Juan Bobo...The stories realistically reveal the rural culture of Puerto Rico at beginning of the 20th century...A delightful selection for beginning readers or as a read-aloud.” Jessie Meudell, School Library Journal
“Juan Bobo was entertaining young Puerto Rican listeners long before appearing in print, and now he’s beckoning to new readers with four deliciously silly tales, all accompanied by cleverly comical art with neon flashes highlighting lush island colors.” Betsy Hearne, Choosing Books for Children: A Common Sense Guide
“Part of the publishers’ “I Can Read” series, Juan Bobo has four stories with tremendous kid appeal. The book also has a Spanish language version of each story at the end, making this volume treat for beginning Spanish students as well as children from Latin America who are learning English.” Parent’s Choice
“JUAN BOBO is a book of four hilarious folktales.” Creative Classroom
“I can recommend this book with a clear conscience.” Susan Weitz, The Ithica Times
“Though simplified, these versions are lively and retain much of the stories’ humor.” Kirkus Reviews
“If the vocabulary is simple, the humor is complex, inviting children to laugh at a traditional fool.” The Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books
“In an `I Can Read’ format for early readers, four silly stories starring a simple-minded young boy are easily told with manageable vocabulary and sentence structure.” Winston-Salem Journal
“Bernier-Grand lends her own rich voice to the Juan Bobo legend. The collection of four stories is written as an easy reader, a book designed for young children to read themselves. The language is brisk with short sentences and lots of dialogue.” Cynthia Leitich Smith, Visitation: The Source of Non-Traditional Families
“A Puerto Rican Amelia Bedelia.” Publisher’s Weekly
“Readers will be amused by Juan Bobo’s foolish antics and the predicaments he encounters as he tries to follow his mother’s instructions.” Horn Book
“A delightful retelling of four of the best known Juan Bobo stories, this “I Can Read” book loses none of the charm of the originals in spite of the simple language used to make it possible for young children to read themselves.” Sonia Nieto, Teaching Multicutural Literature K-8
Other Readers’ Reviews:
“Since I have been using Juan Bobo with one of my students, she has begun to `click’ with her reading. After she reads each story, I read her the story in Spanish and she corrects me. Her motivation to read has gone way up.” Melinda Bell, Author and Volunteer, Vancouver, Washington
“I love to read this book to my students. The illustrations and Juan Bobo himself are adorable as well as silly.” Reader from U.S.
“Juan Bobo es el cuento más chistoso que he escuchado en toda mi vida. Es el primer libro que me ha gustado.” Student, Myers Elementary, Salem, Oregon