My name is Gabito The life of Gabriel García Márquez

Starred Review. K-Gr 3-In the tradition of her previous biographical accounts, My Name is Celia and My name is Gabriela, Brown dazzles readers in this telling of Gabriel García Márquez's magical childhood. Mesmerizing color-pencil, full-page illustrations wrap around the text to create what seems to be a perfect balance of art and language. Based on García Márquez's adult autobiography Living to Tell the Tale (Knopf), this wonderful, engaging narrative transports readers to Gabito's early childhood in northern Colombia. He shares heartwarming times with his grandpa and learns about the tough life of the fruit pickers he observes in the nearby banana plantation. The curious, budding storyteller is a dreamer who cherishes life's every moment. When he decides to share his enchanted world with others, he is on his way to becoming one of the most acclaimed Latin American authors. Young readers will relate to Gabito's escapades into his private and real worlds and understand without puzzlement how he moves between them effortlessly. Together with Brown's other titles, this is a must-have for any library collection, especially those interested in adding multicultural titles. An accessible, high-quality choice for bilingual families.--Liliana Barro Zecker, Associate Professor, School of Education, DePaul Univ., Chicago, IL (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.

Gr 2-4-This luminous picture book describes the Colombian author's childhood and influences. Brown does a wonderful job of articulating Garcia Marquez's complex literary style (called magical realism) in a way youngsters can grasp. Even better, she shows how his imagination was nurtured and encouraged from a very early age by the things around him. The text is written in blocks of English and Spanish with words of both languages sometimes incorporated into the page design. Colin's brilliant watercolors float off the page, anchored by his penciled outlines; his use of swirls and scratches gives depth to the clothing and backgrounds of each illustration and captures a sense of Garcia Marquez's creative imagination. Brown calls this book a character study, but it will be at home in many places in the library, including bilingual, picture book, or biography sections.-Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.