Lejos / Far

by Juan Felipe Herrera, Blanca Gómez (Illustrator)

Some things are close -- cerca. Others are far -- lejos. With sweet simplicity, this charming dual-language board book and its companion volume, Cerca/Close, engage young children.

El arbol de limones esta lejos de mi casa. The lemon tree is far from my house.

The little boy's house is far from the city, and the city is far from the ocean. What about the mountains in the distance, or the clouds in the sky, or the sun that shines over the boy as he walks?

Genres: Spanish Literature, Picture Books, Childrens

14 pages, Board book

Published September 17, 2019

About the author

Juan Felipe Herrera is the only son of Lucha Quintana and Felipe Emilio Herrera; the three were campesinos living from crop to crop on the roads of the San Joaquín Valley, Southern California and the Salinas Valley. Herrera's experiences as the child of migrant farmers have strongly shaped his work, such as the children's book Calling the Doves, which won the Ezra Jack Keats award in 1997. He is a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist who draws from real life experiences as well as years of education to inform his work. Community and art has always been part of what has driven Herrera, beginning in the mid-seventies, when he was director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, an occupied water tank in Balboa Park converted into an arts space for the community.
Herrera’s publications include fourteen collections of poetry, prose, short stories, young adult novels and picture books for children in the last decade with twenty-one books in total.

Reviews

[Scratch · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Spanish is accurate and easy to read aloud. But there is nothing to engage my one-year-old kid, not even colorful pages.

[Eve Costarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweet, simple, bi-lingual board book that examines the perspective of distance, far as in relation to a child's understanding of what they can see. This is very clever and automatically elicits a sensation of trust and safety as a child begins to explore the world, that which is near and that which is far. Very very nice color pallet which is both soft yet rich and calming: earthy, sky-bound, water colors. The illustrations are charming and just detailed enough. I just loved the round body shape of the child- it really embodied childhood. The father is made of great varied shapes and they contrast so well against the city, ocean, mountain, and farmland backgrounds.

The simple bi-lingual, Spanish/English story-line helps to build language skills and spatial awareness in a very relatable way. It offers an accessible way to introduce both Spanish & English through a simple yet engaging early word book.

Love it! It will definitely be on my “what to give as a shower gift list!”

Thank you to Candlewick Press for sending me this book as part of 2019's Multicultural Book Day event. All opinions expressed are my own.

#readyourworld #bookreview #multicultural #book #childrensbook #boardbook #spanish #english #bilingual 

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable bilingual (espanol y ingles) board book which teaches the concept of distance (far-ness) in an interesting way. As we get nearer to a far away place, somewhere else becomes lejos/far. Neat!! Simply effective illustrations too.

[Elizabeth]

Betsy Bird had a strong review of this board book, and when I initially read it, I was underwhelmed. Coming back to it later, I appreciate it more.

"The lemon tree is far from my house."
"My house is far from the city."
Etc.

Each two page spread, our child protagonist is at the place the sentence starts, with the place at the end of the sentence visible in the distance -- and then the next page takes us to the place that was previously in the distance. (Though, okay, I'm not entirely sold on "The clouds are far from the sun.") We travel in this way for a while before returning to where we started.

I'm chronically bad at paying close attention to the illustrations in books, but there's something nice about these illustrations.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is far - my house is far from the city, and the city is far from the ocean, the ocean is far from the clouds etc. / What is close -my bedroom is close to the kitchen, the kitchen is close to the door, the door is close to the daisies etc.

Juan Felipe Herrera is teaching the child about Far and Close in these two bilingual picture books. The narration is in both English and Spanish, and Blanca Gómez's illustrations are colorful and happy. A lovely primer for the preschooler - easy to read and a fun way to introduce another language.

For this and more of my reviews, visit https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Andrés · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice companion to Herrera's Cerca / Close, but it doesn't stick the landing, "El sol brilla sobre mí. / The sun shines over me." Now we're talking about "over" instead of "far." I can't remember the ending of Cerca right now, but I gave it 4 stars, so I'm guessing the ending tied everything together better.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many "perfect" board books on the market, but I'd say this one is pretty close! Gorgeous illustrations and a bilingual storyline that's easy to keep squirmy littles still for. (It's also within their comprehension, which helps with the dual-language reading.)

[Freddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four months old - A great book. Freddie loved the illustrations and I enjoyed figuring out the Spanish pronunciation. I know very basic Spanish and it was fun for both of us. I would like to find more bilingual books with the English and Spanish written next to each other.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, gentle and poetic introduction to the concept of distance.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved both the short poem and the accompanying images. This is a sweet book in both English and Spanish.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet bilingual board book.

[Francis S. Poesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for simple concept books and this book, along with its companion book, Cerca / Close, is illustrated simply and beautifully (by Blanca Gómez) to match the simple concepts covered.

[curiouskat_books · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is okay if you are just looking for a board book with simple english/spanish words for language learning. However, I wouldn't recommend if you are looking for a story or something fun to read.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little boy points out things that are far away from each other. Bilingual board book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bilingual picture book. A short and sweet bilingual board book that illustrates the concept far. There is a companion book to illustrate the concept near, but I have not seen that one yet. A young child learns about far-- the lemon tree is far from the house, the house is far from the city, etc. The illustrations are simple and colorful in a mostly earth tone palette.