On This Page
Description
A spunky young girl from Colombia loves playing with her canine best friend and resists boring school activities, especially learning English, until her family tells her that a special trip is planned to an English-speaking place.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
In Bogotá, Colombia, a young girl named Juana struggles through learning English in school. Fortunately for her, after school her best four-legged friend Lucas is waiting to offer moral support. This intermediate chapter book features full-color illustrations on every page and Spanish words peppered throughout the text. I'd recommend it to a really confident second or third-grade reader, especially one with some knowledge of or interest in learning Spanish. Juana's first-person narration is bubbly and conversational, and she's definitely the sort of engaging heroine kids can relate to. Plus, a cute dog! This is not, however, the sort of book that I'd necessarily recommend to adults who don't already have a strong interest in children's show more literature. show less
This is a charming early chapter book about a young girl named Juana growing up in her beloved Bogotá, Columbia. The text is very visually appealing, and sprinkled throughout with images, graphic features, and Spanish words -- particularly cognates.
Juana is just like any other schoolgirl -- she gets in trouble on the school bus for blowing bubblegum bubbles the size of her head, she dotes on her dog Lucas, adores her family, and struggles with certain subjects in school, namely English. Whyyyyyyy does she have to learn English, particularly when it is so hard and its words are hard to say and not nearly as logical as Spanish? But her family offers examples of why English will be good to learn - Juana's Tía Cris tells her she'll be show more able to sing all of the great songs that are in English (Juana grumbles that there are tons of great songs in Spanish); the brothers who run the corner market want her to be able to translate their store signs so that tourists can read them; and Abue, best of all, convinces her to learn English because he is taking the family to Florida to visit Spaceland! Juana's big-picture reward for learning English is great:
Juana is just like any other schoolgirl -- she gets in trouble on the school bus for blowing bubblegum bubbles the size of her head, she dotes on her dog Lucas, adores her family, and struggles with certain subjects in school, namely English. Whyyyyyyy does she have to learn English, particularly when it is so hard and its words are hard to say and not nearly as logical as Spanish? But her family offers examples of why English will be good to learn - Juana's Tía Cris tells her she'll be show more able to sing all of the great songs that are in English (Juana grumbles that there are tons of great songs in Spanish); the brothers who run the corner market want her to be able to translate their store signs so that tourists can read them; and Abue, best of all, convinces her to learn English because he is taking the family to Florida to visit Spaceland! Juana's big-picture reward for learning English is great:
"And the number-one thing I've learned from coming here to Spaceland in Florida in the U.S. of A. is that I'd love to keep on traveling! Even if Astroman didn't seem to care much about my stories, other people did. Because I speak English so well, I've been able to have fun with a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends. And who wouldn't like for that to happen all around the world?show less
The number-two thing I've learned is that if I want to travel and make new friends, I will need to learn a gazillion more languages besides English and español! That's what Abue says. I don't know if there will be enough espacio between my pigtails for French and Chinese and Italian and Farsi and Portuguese and all of the other languages. Maybe it's time to go back to Columbia and ask Lucas what he thinks about that."
I love "Juana & Lucas." LOVE. IT. And here's why: It's set in Colombia and we don't see many American children's books set in Colombia. Juana is unflaggingly energetic even if something gets her down. Her challenge to learn "the English" is hilarious. She has a very interesting and learned family that is full of love. She loves her faithful dog Lucas. The name "Escanilberto" is just fun to say. Readers can mostly understand from context and cognates what most of the occasional Spanish words mean. And all kids will find Juana super-relatable. A wonderful story all around.
Juana in Juana and Lucas is a little girl growing up in Bogota, Colombia. Lucas is her best friend--her dog. She loves school but finds out that she has to learn English, which frustrates her. Although she finds learning this new language to be a challenge, she asks the adults she knows why learning English is so important. Her Abuelo (grandfather) tells her that he had to learn English when he was studying medicine, and he discovered he loved English. He adds that she needs to learn English because he is taking her on a trip to Spaceland in Orlando, Florida, USA. Upon hearing the news, Juana is excited and makes learning English a priority for her. Juana discovers that with some dedication and practice, she is excellent at speaking show more English. She can't wait to speak this new language when she goes to The United States of America. Now, she wants to learn as many new languages she possibly can.
What a wonderful story! If I could have given this story 5.5 stars, I would have. Juana is precious, and this book is so much fun. There are many elements I enjoyed seeing. The illustrations were colorful, but not overly bright as to distract from the text. The character's faces are simple yet adorable, and they still effectively convey human emotion. I enjoyed that the format was the same for whenever a beloved friend or relative is introduced. I liked how it seems like we are studying a specimen. I also liked how the words are styled in different fonts at certain parts of the book. Sometimes the words also seem to convey motion to align with what is happening at that point in time. For example, when Juana is talking about soccer and how Escanilberto is a fantastic kicker, the phrase "hard enough to send it across the field" is located at the toe of his shoe and extends to the next page in a curved motion, the same direction a ball travels when kicked in the air on a field. At the end of the sentence, we see the ball and a boy jumping in the air, trying to catch it. This illustrative choice conveys his athletic skills even further to the reader, and it is fresh and fun. The theme of this story is universally felt: sometimes, new concepts or lessons may seem daunting and frustrating at first, but if we take some time to learn about and familiarize ourselves with the unknown, then it's not so bad and can be exciting. Who knows? Maybe, if we step outside our comfort zones, we can learn more about our own capabilities. Young readers can see in this story that language is important, and they'll be more eager to learn something new. Vacations are fun, and young children will have an easier time connecting fun with learning by reading this story, in my opinion. show less
What a wonderful story! If I could have given this story 5.5 stars, I would have. Juana is precious, and this book is so much fun. There are many elements I enjoyed seeing. The illustrations were colorful, but not overly bright as to distract from the text. The character's faces are simple yet adorable, and they still effectively convey human emotion. I enjoyed that the format was the same for whenever a beloved friend or relative is introduced. I liked how it seems like we are studying a specimen. I also liked how the words are styled in different fonts at certain parts of the book. Sometimes the words also seem to convey motion to align with what is happening at that point in time. For example, when Juana is talking about soccer and how Escanilberto is a fantastic kicker, the phrase "hard enough to send it across the field" is located at the toe of his shoe and extends to the next page in a curved motion, the same direction a ball travels when kicked in the air on a field. At the end of the sentence, we see the ball and a boy jumping in the air, trying to catch it. This illustrative choice conveys his athletic skills even further to the reader, and it is fresh and fun. The theme of this story is universally felt: sometimes, new concepts or lessons may seem daunting and frustrating at first, but if we take some time to learn about and familiarize ourselves with the unknown, then it's not so bad and can be exciting. Who knows? Maybe, if we step outside our comfort zones, we can learn more about our own capabilities. Young readers can see in this story that language is important, and they'll be more eager to learn something new. Vacations are fun, and young children will have an easier time connecting fun with learning by reading this story, in my opinion. show less
Juana is a bright, young girl who has immense love and respect for her friends and family and of course her sweet pupper, Lucas. She seems to find the beauty in her loved ones but what she cannot for the life of her seem to find the beauty in is learning "the ENGLISH!" I loved this read because Juana highlights a less stereotypical young girl who loves brussel sprouts, playing soccer during recess, and is not embarrassed to love her family. At the same time she is a very relatable character in that she struggles to keep up her grades at school when she is not passionate about the subject. With a little help from her role models, Juana realizes that her hard work will pay off for an abundance of reasons, even when she cannot see it in show more the immediate future. show less
Somewhere in between a picture book and a graphic novel, with a lot of exposition, and some fun graphic text elements. Introduces Juana and her life growing up in Bogota, Columbia, with her best friends Lucas (perro) and Juli (girl). She is fascinated by Astroman and convinced that no good will come of learning English. Light, sweet, entertaining, slightly bilingual.
I loved this story! Juana is such a light character but filled with depth. She is joyous and exuberant. She is a breath of fresh air. Juana lives in Columbia with her mom, who plays a significant role in her life. We first see Juana when she is describing her favorite things about life. She talks about the city she lives in, her dog Lucas and her favorite things. Juana goes to her first day of school, and we are introduced to her friend Juli. Juana has an awful first day of school; all kinds of unfortunate things happen to her. One thing that Juana struggles with throughout the story is learning English, until one day she sits down with her grandpa and he tells her it's important to learn English because I am going to take you to show more Spaceland! Juana's mother tells her that she needs to get serious about learning English in school if she wants to go to Spaceland, so she does. She learns English so she can talk to Spaceman; however he does not talk at all. Juana realizes that even though Spaceman did not speak to her, she realized the joy of learning a new language and traveling to different places.
I loved this story and the rich characters in it. It was a short read and very kid-friendly. The chapters were quick and easy to read. I liked how the author used Spanish words intertwined with english to represent her culture. This book does a great job of teaching the reader the difficulties of learning a different language. I would have this on my shelf for readers in my classroom to read. It's not intimidating to read, and as I said before, its very kid-friendly with its writing style and illustrations throughout the story. show less
I loved this story and the rich characters in it. It was a short read and very kid-friendly. The chapters were quick and easy to read. I liked how the author used Spanish words intertwined with english to represent her culture. This book does a great job of teaching the reader the difficulties of learning a different language. I would have this on my shelf for readers in my classroom to read. It's not intimidating to read, and as I said before, its very kid-friendly with its writing style and illustrations throughout the story. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Youth: DEI
296 works; 2 members
SYES Library Wishlist
1,080 works; 4 members
Favorite Kids Books (chapter, middle grade)
168 works; 4 members
NPR Books You Love: 100 Favorite Books For Young Readers
100 works; 1 member
Author Information
13+ Works 1,015 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2019
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 464
- Popularity
- 65,713
- Reviews
- 69
- Rating
- (4.07)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 27
- ASINs
- 1
