Manana, Iguana

Hilarious take on one of my very favorite stories, Little Red Hen. I love the ending. (I always love endings that aren't about the spite of the traditional versions.)

This lively tale starring an industrious iguana and her fun-loving but lazy friends does the "Little Red Hen" with a Latin beat and a positive spin. On Monday, Iguana announces her plans for a Saturday party. Her pals--a rabbit, a turtle, and a snake--greet each invitation to work with excuses. A running joke throughout is the snake's promise to help if he grows arms by manana. The annoyed iguana does all the work herself, writing and delivering invitations, cooking, and filling a pinata. When Fiesta comes, Iguana won't let her lazy friends attend, and then works out a clever way to redeem themselves. The hot-colored gouache artwork vividly conveys the southwestern desert, and comical touches, such as Iguana's chef's hat, keep the tale show more cheery. Spanish words sprinkled through the text (a glossary precedes the story) help give things an authentic feel. Category: Books for the Young--Fiction. 2004, Holiday, $16.95. PreS-Gr. 3. show less

This book is about some animals who want to make a party together but everyone is too lazy for helping organizing everything. So Iguana has to prepare everything on his own. After the party he is really tired because he had to do so much. That is when the others notice that they were unfair and that they should have helped him. So they clean everything up and in the end they come together and eat all the leftovers from the party. I loved the story and the colourful pictures. I also liked that a part of the words were written in spanish. So I think this would be a perfect book for children who have spanish as their second mothertongue.

I thought Mañana, Iguana was a very well written and lesson teaching book. The Iguana wants to throw a party and asks the rabbit, the turtle, and the snake to help her out. She asks them to help her do different things on every day of the week but they never wanted to help. They kept giving her different excuses as to why they couldn't help her set up for the party. When the day of the party arrived, the snake, the turtle, and the rabbit were all ready to have the party but the iguana stopped them and told them they couldn't come because they didn't help with the party. In the end they help her clean up while she is sleeping and in morning they have leftover food from the party and are friends once again. A very good book for teaching show more the lesson of helping others. I think thats a lesson that cannot be taught enough, so we as teachers should always be promoting it. show less

Iguana is planning a fiesta, but her lazy trio of friends loses out in this clever update of the story of the Little Red Hen, with a Mexican twist. A glossary of Spanish words is included.

Great fun to read! Lots of words in Spanish to teach to my little one! Great message about helping a friend too!

Mañana, Iguana is about an Iguana who decides to plan a party for her friends. Iguana's friends make excuses and will not help her with the various stages of planning the party. Once the party arrives, Iguana does not allow her friends to attend because they did not help and has fun with the other guests. I liked this story because it had a good message for children. Through Iguana's friend's actions, children can learn it is important to help others and take responsibility. Also, I liked how the author incorporated basic Spanish words into the text.