Diane Gonzales Bertrand

I was really surprised at the message this story was pushing because it was very positive, but it wasn't politically correct. I figured that the story would be about how Sofia makes her own dress that fits her body, but it was about Sofia improving her lifestyle. Many American kids will be overweight at some point in their childhood, and maybe if they read a story like this they'd be motivated to make some positive changes.

Young Daniel doesn't share his dad's excitement over going to the family reunion. What's the big deal? It's just going to be a bunch of old people he doesn't know, sitting around and telling stories about other old people he doesn't know. Once there, though, Daniel is in for several pleasant surprises.

I can't completely put my finger on it, but something about this story seems unoriginal and even cliche. While the message about friendship and acceptance is always important and appreciated, the way it is presented seems outdated and mediocre writing. I admit I am surprised it won the Schneider Family Book Award, although it is meaningful that you do not know he uses a wheelchair until the last page, showing his disability doesn't make him "less than". He is a boy with interests and hobbies show more just like most people have. Other than this, however, I find the book neither great nor horrible. It is run of the mill for me. show less

I love reading bilingual books like this one because I can read them with my children as they are learning the languages I already know. It was easy to match the sentences from the side my children read to the side I read and vice versa. I can also read this book to my children with the part they can read covered so they can determine what the story is saying by pictures and the way the story sounds when I read it, just as they learned to read and understand English before it became their show more first language. The colors of the pictures were vibrant and the choices of activities for la fiesta were activities that happen at many parties, so learning these action words, nouns, and other parts of speech would be easily learned useful again in life.

I am taking off one star because I feel like the story ended too abruptly. It seemed like at least one more page was needed to talk about leaving the party. show less