Bienvenidos! to a celebration of Christmas, Latino-style! From the ngel (angel) hung above the door to the zapatos (shoes) filled with grass for the wise men s camels, each letter in this festive alphabet introduces children to a Spanish word, and each colorful page takes them through another joyous aspect of the 22 days of the traditional holiday. Vibrant art from acclaimed illustrator Joe Cepeda beautifully complements the lively, rhythmic text to bring the reader a wealth of heritage and a season of light! Feliz Navidad!
- ISBN: 9780811852050
- Author: Elya, Susan Middleton
- Published: 2007 , Chronicle Books
- Themes: Christmas, cultures, Family, holidays, Identity, Love, relationships, traditions
- Descriptors: Americas, Bilingual, Concept Book, Early Years (ages 2-6), Latinx in US, Mexico, Nonfiction, North America, United States
- No. of pages: 40
N is for Navidad by Susan Middleton Elya and Merry Banks is an excellent book for young children. This book is one that all students can enjoy, including English Language Learners. The illustrations by Joe Cepeda are colorful and vibrant, easily capturing the attention of young children. N is for Navidad celebrates Christmas, while teaching readers about Latino holiday traditions one letter at a time.
I chose to read this book, because I am very interested in promoting multiculturalism in the classroom. As the author goes through each letter of the alphabet, readers learn a new word in Spanish corresponding to that particular letter. Each word mentioned ties together to create one big picture of a Latino-style Christmas. This is a fun way for English speakers to learn about a new language and culture. The author’s note in the back of the book is particularly helpful in describing customs, translating words form Spanish to English, and listing the correct pronunciation of each word. This has been my favorite bilingual book for young children that I have ever read. Other books that I have read have simply provided word translations on each page, without much creativity. This book makes you want to continue reading, because it tells a story. The story is exciting for students to hear and recite, because it rhymes.
While reading this book, I thought of all of the opportunities for learning that can arise from it. This book can obviously be read at Christmastime to get students in the holiday spirit. Since the author’s note mentions how many families of Latino heritage celebrate Christmas from December 16th through January 6th, it would be fun for teachers to deliver a classroom unit between those dates. This would be a perfect opportunity to ask children to share about the holidays that they celebrate with their classmates. After reading N is for Navidad, students could create oil paintings, similar to the ones in the story, to represent their own holidays. Children could also be asked to create symbolic representations of what they learned. Teachers could also design an activity involving students making their own alphabet books, each page telling about or illustrating their own holiday traditions corresponding with each letter of the alphabet.
After reading this book, teachers could engage students in an author study about Susan Middleton Elya or Merry Banks. Inside the back cover of the book, we learn that Susan Middleton Elya is not a native Spanish-speaker. She actually loved learning Spanish so much that she wrote books in both Spanish and English for the past thirteen years. This information can be inspiring to students and further their excitement about learning new words. Inside the back cover of the book, we also learn that Merry Banks’ upbringing in San Antonio, Texas was what inspired this book.
In the book illustrations, I noticed that all of the people are smiling and laughing; and I feel that the same mood and atmosphere could be created in the classroom while learning about new customs. Reading this book made me wish that they had similar books in other languages. This type of book makes English Language Learners feel included and proud of their culture. This book promotes multiculturalism and bilingualism within the classroom, which is so important in an increasingly diverse population of students.