Twice as many friends El doble de amigos

PreS-Gr 2--In a clean digital collage style, characters of every skin and hair color play, surf, drum, and dance amid a rainbow of hot pinks, purples, sunny yellows, and cool fresh blues by Brazilian Starkoff bring this bilingual song by musician Amador to life. Readers will learn phrases in Spanish from the catchy rhymes: They'll say, "¿Cómo te llamas?" for "What's your name?" or "¿Quieres jugar?" to ask "Do you want to play?" Back matter includes an illustrated summary of the Spanish phrases learned as well as the tune to the song in sheet music; there is also a link to a video featuring Starkoff's illustrations, Amador's words, and the actual performance of the song by Amador and his wife under their band name Sol y Canto. VERDICT Recommended for any collection that aims to make Spanish more accessible to young readers.--Hillary Perelyubskiy

A bilingual song celebrating friendship and community. As the book opens, we see a family flying to Puerto Rico, where they surf and build sand castles. "It always makes me happy to understand what people say," the young narrator tells us. "If they say Quieres jugar? / It means Do you want to play?" The family enjoys the conga drummers' contagious beat and joins the locals in a festive dance. But the cheerful bilingual experience continues even when the family returns home, because "sometimes people come to live here / from places far away." Asking " Cómo te llamas?" invites the newcomers to share their names. The result? "Twice as many friends, / twice as much fun / That's why two languages / are better than one!" Amador's rhyming bilingual story and song links a jaunty English-only refrain to two sets of four easy English-Spanish couplets. Selective repetition encourages language learning whether in a group or reading on one's own. Starkoff's bright, warm colors make her flat illustrations pop. The book ends with a link to an animated video with the song performed by Amador's band Sol y Canto along with the score. Translations for the various Spanish phrases, with pronunciation help, are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A lively--and catchy--springboard to Spanish-language acquisition. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.