A nice variant of the Red Riding Hood tale. But buy the bilingual version--which is what I thought I was buying! I can't believe the publisher thought we needed a whole separate English-only version. The "bilingual" version is still mostly English, but sprinkles a few Spanish terms throughout. Hearing Isabel address the villain as "Señor Coyote," especially given the setting of the story, is far more fun than the flat "Mister Coyote." ( )

A nice variant of the Red Riding Hood tale, featuring a doughty red-clad heroine. If you purchase it, be sure you're getting this nice version with Spanish terms embedded in the text. The publisher has also put out an English-only version, which is nowhere near as much fun. ( )

Isabel and the Hungry Coyote: Isabel y el coyote hambriento by Keith Polette, is written primarily in English and has some key Spanish words. It is a book that would work very well for readers whose primary language is English and they are just learning the first stages of Spanish. The reader will not get “lost in translation” since most of the words in the plot are in English. The story only has 25 high frequency words in Spanish, consequently the reader can learn about 25 words that he can now understand and use after he has mastered the book. I thought it was a very unique book for several reasons. Firstly, most bilingual books have complete translations of the complete story and this story does not. It reads like “Spaniglish” where there is only one story, but the Spanish and English is used in the same sentence. For example, Little Red Riding Hood says, “Buenos Diaz to you”. The word “Buenos Diaz” is simply inserted where “Good Morning” would be. The This is a “Spanglish” expression since words are just substituted instead of whole paragraphs translated. Although some people may criticize the use of two languages in one sentence, the reality is that this is actually how people acquire a second language. Since 98% of the book is in English, it is a great book to introduce Spanish to English speakers.
In addition, the art is superb since it is set in the Chihuahua Desert of the American southwest. The colors and characters used are very attractive and animated. Adults and children are sure to enjoy the detail spent on the illustrations. Furthermore, the Spanish words are in red and there is a word glossary in the back of the book with the English translations.
Ages 3-6 ( )