The Fiesta Dress: A Quinceanera Tale

I really enjoyed the book The Fiesta Dress because of its way of teaching Spanish and its topic on family togetherness. While the story is being told, each character is introduced with the Spanish word for that relative. For example, “In the den, the primos didn't notice me.” The words are later defined in the back of the book. Also the book is all about family. Even though everyone ignores her at first, by the end of the book the family appreciates her presence. At one point, the sister says, “I’m even happier to have my special sister with me on my big day.” The main idea of this book is family togetherness.

In "The Fiesta Dress: A Quinceanera Tale," it is about a little girl named Lolo. She is always noticed by her family and when she isn't getting attention during the preparation of her older sister's quinceañera, she runs into a problem. At one point, she tries to get her dog's attention, but he ends up running out of the room he was kept in and takes the sister's sash for her outfit. Lolo's sister Eva panics and she thinks the party's ruined. Lolo then finds their dog and gets the sash back. She then explains to her family that she only wanted attention and didn't mean to let the dog out. They forgive her and thank her for thinking quickly and fixing the problem. Then, she notices that the rest of her family is noticing her again and show more she loves it. The party goes great and everyone, including Lolo, Eva, and their dog are happy. Overall, this book was very fun to read. Along with the author revealing some of the things they did to prepare for a quinceañera, the author also incorporated Spanish words into the story. Incorporating these Spanish words with the context of the illustrations helps build the reader's understanding and vocabulary in this language. I would definitely read this book to my students one day because it is an example of how different cultures celebrate birthdays and it provides a way to learn words from the Spanish language. show less

While everyone's preparing for Lola's sister quinceañera party, everyone ignores Lola. But when she lets the family's dog out of the laundry room, the dog takes her sister's sash and Lola goes to retrieve it. Then everyone notices her again. Although I like this particular book Lola was a bit selfish because everyone paid attention to her sister. But this book would be great for children who can relate to Lola's need for attention and then her happiness at being a part of her sister's celebration.

In my opinion this is a good book. I liked this book for three reasons. First, I liked how the illustrations connected with the words written in Spanish in the story. A part of the story said “my perro” with a picture of a dog. This gave me a clue that “perro” means dog in Spanish. Second, I liked the descriptive language. The author used a lot of verbs to describe events such as, “they whirled, curled, brushed, and combed as they dressed” and “unraveled, tossed, tugged, and twisted strands of lights”. These verbs made reading the events of the story more interesting and created imagery. Lastly, I liked the plot of the story. I liked how the story wasn’t in the perspective of the main character having the quinceanera. show more Instead it was the younger sister who I feel many people could relate to. She was the baby in the family and was used to getting all the attention. I think the main idea of this story is to show different traditions of a quinceanera and family values. show less

The book is a cute story about a little girl (Lolo) who is the youngest member of her family and is used to getting attention for everything she does. However, when her older sister is getting ready for her Quinceanera no one in the family notices Lolo because they are too busy. The story talks about the different things each family member does in order to get ready for the Quinceanera such as her Aunts making tamales. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout the book. While the book has a glossary with a few Spanish terms such as perro, and besitos, it does not include any pronunciations which I think is a bit of an over site. For someone that has no knowledge of Spanish, and since the book is aimed at young reader who may be unfamiliar show more with Spanish, a guide to pronouncing the words would be very useful.
It could be a good book to use when talking about different cultures and cultural practices. Latin American students may be able to share personal experiences about the Quinceaneras of family members and other students could talk about different birthday traditions that they have. show less

Lolo is the baby of the family and while everyone is getting ready for her older sister's quinceanera she is lost in the hustle and bustle. She is feeling unnoticed by everyone. When she lets the family dog out of his room trouble breaks out, and now she is getting attention. A cute story about a little girl looking for some attention but goes about it in the wrong way. Lolo ends up making everything right by finding the sash that the dog ran off with and saves the day.

Wonderful illustrations and cute Latin story of a 15 year old's Quinceanera celebration and her younger sister's confusion on why no one was noticing her. She is the baby of the family and was used to being in the eyes of everyone. Except on Eva's big day, she is in the center. Lolo saves the day when she retrieves the sash for Eva's dress from the dog Gobi. The book is a very uplifting story with culture and innocence.