On The Banks of The Amazon
En las orillas del Amazonas
Nancy Kelly Allen
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Raven Tree Press
ISBN: 0972019278

A new day breaks along the mighty Amazon River.

On the banks of the Amazon, a new days breaks. The mighty Amazon River weaves in & about, around & out the canopy of green. Hanging mosses drop down in this grand tangle called a rain forest.

En las orillas del Amazonas, comienza un nuevo día. El poderoso Amazonas ondea de un lado a otro bajo el verde follage. Masas de musgos cuelgan en esta gran maraña que se conoce como selva tropical.

Two wildlife hunters on a safari see paw prints. Animals see footprints.

Dos cazadores de safari ven hullas de animales. Los animales ven huellas humanas.

Great illustrations by Elizabeth Driessen -- they are energetic, colorful & mesmerizing, & the story will introduce you to the rainforest of South America where glorious animals of all different shapes & sizes will entrance you.

My Spanish cannot hold up to writing a review of a bilingual book in that language, suffice to say that the moment I began reading the second paragraph, the part of the story in Spanish, I could easily pick out the meaning of the words. I shared On The Banks of The Amazon -- En las orillas del Amazonas with some young ones at the library, & they were thrilled! Suddenly they saw a way to speak with their classmates whose mother tongue is Spanish.

Spanish is America's second most spoken language, & if you want to give your young readers (& yourself!) an introduction to this lovely language then Raven Tree Press books are a great boon for you. Of course, it works in reverse too -- if you want your children to make the connections between Spanish & English!

A word about Raven Tree Press out of Green Bay, Wisconsin -- it is an independent publisher dedicated to offering amusing, informative & interestingly written stories for the Accelerated Reader in a Bilingual Context. Each of their titles is magically illustrated to accompany the English & Spanish texts with a Glossary in the back. Raven Tree Press also has fine Translators who capture modern idioms.

More from Raven Tree Press:
Yelly Kelly/Kelly, el Griton
Even More/Todavia Mas
Mason Moves Away/Mason Se Muda
(05/09/04)

Rebecca