I Love Saturdays y domingos (EXAMPLE)

The title of the book is I love Saturdays y domingos and it is by Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by Elivia Savadier. The book is about a little girl who spends her Saturdays and Sundays with both sets of her grandparents, one set for each day. On Saturdays she visits Grandma and Grandpa who come from a European-American background, and on Sundays she visits Abuelito and Abuelita who are Mexican-American. The story recounts events at each household that are similar, but also different. The book is written in English, but it also has some Spanish words and phrases. Children will love to read this book and compare how both sets of grandparents spend their weekends with the main character.

Story details include the little girl watching a circus on TV and then going to a real circus, the little girl looking at her grandparents’ aquarium and then seeing real fish in the ocean, and the little girl celebrating her birthday party at her house with both sets of grandparents present. I think this book would be interesting to students because they can all connect to the idea of having two different sets of grandparents even if they cannot directly connect to the multicultural aspect of the story. I also think students would think this book is interesting because maybe they have not been exposed to the Spanish language and here they can listen to it and know the meanings based on the information in English.

I would recommend this book to teachers of primary grades because the pages are only a little full of text and the story is basic in its plot of comparing the two families. I would recommend this to any teacher who has students who speak Spanish because then it could be a direct connection for them and they could feel proud to share the same culture and language as the main character and her grandparents. I also recommend teachers of any class makeup to read this book in order to introduce students to the idea of a cross-cultural family, and to show to students how we can celebrate different cultures and accept them rather than fear them.

YouTube Book Trailer