The Parrot Tico Tango

by Anna Witte

Parrot Tico Tango is a mischievous parrot who always wants what others have, so he can t resist stealing the delicious looking fruit of his rainforest friends. But Tico Tango learns his lesson when greed finally gets the better of him and he takes on more than he can carry. His companions forgive him but only on the condition that he dance the tango for them!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Spanish Literature, Storytime, Food

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself isn't awesome (parrot stealing his friends' fruit) but the rhythm and imagery in the writing are quite pleasing.

Per Amazon, ages 5-6.

[Cara Noyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I look forward to sharing this with students.
We can have a different instrument for the different fruits and characters.
This was a delightful children’s tale!

[Shelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a parrot that steals fruit from his animal friends. The colourful illustrations make a great starting point for art! I have, in my year 1 class, made giant papier-mâché fruits to put on a display, and we also made a giant parrot and collaged it with colorful tissue paper. The story uses rhythm throughout, a great way to introduce rhyming for ks1. Also, using the book, I focused a great deal on adjectives and describing words. This is in the book and it gives the teacher space to really extend children’s vocabulary and poetic skills. I also incorporated drama through this story, using the Parrot’s actions to act out what the other friends may be feeling as this ‘greedy’ parrot steals all the fruit! This book is great fun for all ages, which is inspiring for excellent lessons and cross-curricular learning.

[Carla Raymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute book that rhymes. I could teach my kids about the various fruits and different ways to prepare them. It also teaches about sharing.

[Anna A-P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book with an accompanying song. It is a cumulative tale where a parrot takes one fruit at a time from different animals. You can count with the children the numbers of fruits as the parrot takes more and more. You could use the fruits and parrot from the story to create a math game for counting. The rhyming will delight children and assist in their comprehension of the story. Visuals are engaging, with fruit on the wings of the parrots, so that dual-language learners could follow along with the stories as types of animals and fruits are named. Rhyming of the song will also be exciting for young DLLs!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tico Tango is not a particularly good friend - despite having his own mango, he flies through the forest stealing fruit from his friends. When he finally has so much that he accidentally drops it all he has to figure out what he's done wrong and a way to make it up to his friends. The illustrations are the best part of this rhyming story.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important Spoiler: the parrot repents of his stealing at the end. He's stealing and being naughty, but he does get better at the end which makes this a great book to talk about sinning, apologizing, and forgiving.

[Sarah Lois Yong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the song that goes with the story. A good plot to teach children about sharing.

[Dominika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of colours,rhymes and descriptions. Book about sharing and not wanting everything for only ourselves.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I like the book is because Tico Tango gets his Mango back when he teaches them to do the Tango.

-Eric
Age 4

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cumulative tale that is fun to read loudly and rhythmically, and great for teaching colors, fruit, animals, various words for theft — and sharing!

[Goshen PL Childrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read at Storytime on June 22, 2022
Theme: Rainforest Stories

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good illustrations and fun rhymes.

[Calla]

Very cute! Calla loved it and was yelling at the parrot to stop stealing!

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parrot Tico Tango is a naughty bird! He has his own mango, but as he soars through the jungle, he steals fruit from other animals. There is the sloth’s lemon, the monkey’s fig, the snake’s cherry, the frog’s grapes and more. Eventually, it gets to be too much to carry and he crashes. Now Tico Tango is left with nothing, not even his own mango. But the others offered him a slice of mango in exchange for him dancing the tango. And dance he did!

This is a colorful book that merrily teaches colors and fruits along the way. The rhyme is jazzy and great fun to read aloud. The text is written in a cumulative style, so each new fruit is added to the list that is repeated with each new addition. This adds a lot of style and emphasizes the greed of Tico Tango. While the book teaches colors, what it would work best for in a classroom is a discussion of adjectives. Each new fruit is talked about in detailed adjectives that are used in different sentence structures. It would make a very approachable and fun lesson.

Witte’s art is bright and bold, a winning combination of collage and paint. The animals themselves are bright colored, especially Tico Tango who lights up each page in his own rainbow of colors. The fruit also adds a lot of color and then it all pops against the green of jungle and the varying colors of the sky.

This is a simple book that will be enjoyed by toddlers learning their colors on one level and then by elementary students learning adjectives on another. Appropriate for ages 2-6.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Parrot Tico Tango written by Anna Witte, is a fun and engaging children's book. In this story you are introduced to Tico Tango, a parrot who is never satisfied with what he has. He always wants what his animal friends has, so he snatches it. All their fruit soon becomes Tico Tango's. He finally learns his lesson when he takes too much fruit and it all falls out of his arms. He apologizes to his friends for being so greedy and they will only forgive him under one condition: He teaches them how to do the tango.

This book has colorful and bright illustrations that draw the reader in. There is never a boring page. The rhyming format engages children and makes it easy for them to follow along. Bold lining is used when Tico Tango drops the fruit, to emphasize the drop. Not only does this story teach kids about sharing, but it teaches them the different types of fruit that Tico Tango is taking from his friends. This story gives children great opportunities to get engaged and be entertained by the bad parrots stealing ways.


Personally, I think this story has a great plot line and has many opportunities for children to learn and become involved. The rhythmic pattern is perfect for kids and the story teaches many lessons that they can take away like important life lessons and morals.

[Madison Hays · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Parrot Tico Tango is a fun and engaging children's book. In this story you are introduced to Tico Tango, a parrot who is never satisfied with what he has. He always wants what his animal friends has, so he snatches it. All their fruit soon becomes Tico Tango's. He finally learns his lesson when he takes too much fruit and it all falls out of his arms. He apologizes to his friends for being so greedy and they will only forgive him under one condition: He teaches them how to do the tango.

This book has colorful and bright illustrations that draw the reader in. There is never a boring page. The rhyming sing-song format engages children and makes it easy for them to follow along. Bold lining is used when Tico Tango drops the fruit, to emphasize the drop. Not only does this story teach kids about sharing, but it teaches them the different types of fruit that Tico Tango is taking from his friends. This story gives children great opportunities to get engaged and be entertained by the naughty parrots stealing ways!


Personally, I think this story has a great plot line and has many opportunities for children to learn and become involved. The rhythmic pattern is perfect for kids and the story teaches many lessons that they can take away.

[Jennifer Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And Tico Tango knew that he had to have it too, so he took it!” The Parrot Tico Tango written by Anna Witte is about a greedy Parrot who is never satisfied with what he has. Whenever he sees one of his animal friends in the forest with fruit he decides that he wants it and he takes it from them. Needless to say, this does not make his friends happy. He soon learns that taking things is not ok when all the fruit becomes too much and it all falls from his mouth. Luckily for Tico Tango his friends forgive him under one condition: he must teach them how to tango.

This book is engaging from the front cover to the last page. The bright colors on the cover initially draw the reader to the book and the colorful illustrations and rhyming style keep the reader interested. It is also a fun way to teach children a lesson. Through Tico Tango they can explore the idea of sharing and learn that taking things is never a good idea.

[Amanda Behrends · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary - The parrot goes through the jungle stealing beautifully colored fruit from his friends only to lose it all and realize the error of his ways.
Curriculum Connection - I could see using this book to practice sequencing of events in a story as well as to open a discussion about treating our friends how we want to be treated.
Personal Reaction - I liked this book because I felt students would be drawn in by the interesting jungle animals and the rhythm of the book.
Visual Appeal - I really loved the illustrations in this book. I have always been drawn to the art of Mexico and South America because of the deep saturation of bright colors and that is exactly what this book delivers.
Intended Audience - Kindergarten to third grade, about five to eight years old.

[Carly Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Parrot Tico Tango loved fruits. When he saw his friends fruits, he just had to have them too. When he was taking a date from his friend Nate, all the fruits fell out and onto the ground where his friends collected them and put them into a bowl. Parrot Tico Tango wanted to have some fruits so he decided that he had to make things right and his friends made him tango for a piece of mango so he did.
The pictures are bright and colorful drawing the reader in and making them want to read more. The characters are the brightest so the grab the most attention with the dark lines making them stand out from the back drops. The rhyming that the story has keeps the readers intrigued and wanting to go to the next page.

[Kim Palacios · Rating 5 out of 5]

"El Loro Tico Tango" is a cute story full of great illustrations and many opportunities to entertain and engage your toddler. A variety of vocabulary-expanding terminology is used to describe el loro snatching up the fruit from his forest friends, and the fruits (and animals) mentioned take a refreshing diversion from the typical safari animals and apple/pear/plum fruits seen in most toddler books that feature animals and fruits. "El Loro Tico Tango" is full of mangos, papayas, dates, grapes, and cherries on the fruit side and frogs, lizards, and monkeys on the animal side. A fantastic read! I wish there were an English version to recommend to my non-Spanish-speaking friends!

[Alanna Burris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how whenever a new color is mentioned it is presented in bold letters so that is stands out. I'm sure many children haven heard of some of these fruits like a papaya or date so it's great that they are being exposed to them through this story. It's also a good way to teach children that taking things from other people is no right. The parrot isn't satisfied with what he had so he took from his friends until he couldn't carry anymore and all the fruits fell. The parrots friends agree to give him a second chance and to let him have some fruit. This shows kids that it's good to help a friend out, even if they weren't they nicest.

[Lisa Lathrop · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read-along story about a naughty parrot who steals everyone's fruit! Sing-song rhymes will delight elementary readers and colorful before-and-after illustrations add to the enjoyment. Who's food will Tico Tango steal next? and what happens when he can't carry anymore fruit? A lesson to be learned is in store for readers.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fun, brightly colored cumulative tale was well liked by my 7 yo daughter when she read it to me. The story tells of Tico Tango the parrot who likes to steal mangos (and figs, grapes, cherries, and other fruit) from all the other rainforest animals. Does Tico Tango learn his lesson or does he continue to steal from the other animals? You'll have to read this cute book to find out!

[Hira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most wonderful books I've read this semester. I made a whole unit based on this book! We talked about adjectives, synonyms, character maps, themes and evidence, prediction, the form of poetry with students writing their own adjective poems at the end. :)

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and colorful tale of a parrot that steals everyone else's fruit before learning his lesson and teaching the other animals to tango as retribution. Not particularly original, but fun none-the-less.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, this book really didn't do anything for me. I thought the story was too busy for its targeted audience and it took too long to get the the gist of the story. The illustrations were interesting, but didn't increase my love of the book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tico Tango is a major kleptomaniac, and it finally catches up with him. Don't steal what you can't carry, Tico. Thankfully, his friends, whom he has stolen from, are forgiving and let Tico dance for some fruit. Good book, and very colorful.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book taught a few lesson on how to not steal because it typically doesn't go as planned as you'd like it. It also shows the read that it's okay to ask for forgiveness and to forgive others that have done you wrong. The book provides lessons that will help children in the future.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rhyming and repeating book featuring the parrot tico tango who keeps stealing different types of fruit from all of his friends. Will he be able to keep all the fruit and what will he do if he can't? C an his friends forgive him? Preschool and up for length.