Uno, Dos, Tres: One, Two, Three: Bilingual English-Spanish

by Pat Mora, Barbara Lavavelle (Illustrator)

Las ilustraciones retratan a dos hermanas yendo de tienda a tienda comprando regalos de cumpleaños para su madre. El texto en rima presenta a los números del uno al diez en inglés y español.
 Pictures depict two sisters going from shop to shop buying birthday presents for their mother. Rhyming text presents numbers from one to ten in English and Spanish.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Childrens, Spanish Literature, Cultural, Mathematics, Kids

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Pat Mora (born 1942) is a female Mexican-American author and poet. Pat Mora was born in El Paso, Texas. She is married and has 3 grown children.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a bilingual book, this only features the numbers in both languages, the rest of the words are just in English. However, it is still really cute and depicts some aspects of Mexican culture.

[Megan Huckaby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bilingual counting book set in a traditional Mexican market. The main characters are two sisters who are visiting the market in search of items to celebrate their Mama’s birthday. Pat Mora’s rhythmic, rhyming text and Barbara Lavallee’s brightly colored illustrations capture a feeling of celebration and invite reader participation as the characters count, dance and sing through the market. Colorful drawings contrast with traditional imagery, lending the book an authentic, old-fashioned feel rich with Mexican-American heritage.
While this book is bilingual (English and Spanish), the author invites readers of all backgrounds to access the text. Each spread presents the numbers in Spanish, then English, and a pronunciation guide is included at the back for all Spanish words used in the book. Pat Mora includes an author’s note sharing her love of the Mexican market as a child, and her desire to share that love with readers. The end result is a story that feels welcoming to children of all backgrounds.
With its rhythmic and rhyming text, this would be a great book to use in the K-2 classroom as a shared reading focused on fluency development. It would also lend itself to being used as a choral reading; the text could be printed on chart paper, and students could take turns reading different parts with expression and prosody.
For PreK-Kindergarten children, this book could also be used to support counting development; both learning the number sequence and for practice with 1-1 correspondence. Older students could use it as a model for creating and illustrating their own counting books, which could then be shared with younger children during multi-grade partner reading.

[Laura Mincey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be good to share with young students who are bilingual. Connections are made throughout the story with English and Spanish words. For instance, uno is connected with one and so on. This book would be a great book to introduce to an ELL students of a Spanish speaking background in order to be introduced to simple words in the English language, such as number words. This is also a great book to share with ELL students because the words in the story rhyme. A Pre-K teacher with a Spanish speaking student would really benifit from having this story in his/her library!

[Scott Roark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Use this book to reinforce counting in Spanish and English for all students. Story about 2 daughters collecting items for their mom's birthday. Allows for repetition of counting in both languages. Activity for class would be to pair up mono and bilingual students and allow them to practice counting in both languages. Have them use manipulatives to even practice adding and subtracting, this would reinforce their ability to use both languages in real situations.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two sisters buy birthday presents for their mother at a Mexican market. The number words are shown in English and Spanish. No numerals. After we've seen a few words individually, we stop and count up.

Throughout the book, there are always the right number of things to count if you can figure out what to count. Sometimes that's multiple things and sometimes not, and sometimes it's not really what's indicated to count. (On the spread with "Seis, six. Castanet click-clicks," we should not be counting the castanets! I think technically there are six visible castanets, but one barely is, and you can see the strings for two more hooked around people's hands! There are six people, though.)

[Suhad Albaat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how simple this book was. They were just shopping for their mama's birthday and were counting in English and Spanish. Having kids do something like this would teach them how to count in Spanish and in English. This book is helpful for kids who do not know English and also, for kids who are trying to learn Spanish at a young age.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet bilingual English/Spanish counting book about a family preparing for the mother's birthday party. I love all the cultural elements interwoven into the story (even with the architecture, clothing, and decorations included).

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book presents two sisters working their way through a market looking for presents for their mother's birthday. Along the way, they count items in both English and Spanish. The numbers are repeated over and over, presumably to teach young readers how to count to ten in either language.

[Lindsey Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute book about shopping for Mama's birthday present brings in Mexican traditions and Spanish words. This book would be a fun way to introduce counting in English and Spanish.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not our favorite counting book. The illustrations were confusing for the kids - they didn't know what exactly they were supposed to be counting.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great way to help kids learn their Spanish numbers up to 10.

[Genessis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Multicultural book. Helps children with counting single digit numbers.

[Fatima Parra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno, Dos, Tres; One, Two, Three by pat Mora is a counting book for children. What really caught my attention about this book is the fact that it is in Spanish and English. This book helps children learn to count from one to ten. On one side of the page it says the number in Spanish. On the other page the numbers are in English. I realized this is a high quality children’s books for several reasons.
One of the reasons I consider this book a high quality children’s book is because it is very easy to understand. There are not many words on each page. My favorite thing about this book is that it teaches the child how to count in two different languages. I think it is very important that children try to learn a second language at an early age. The use of many different colors capture the attention of children. The text is very easy to read. This book is simple and that’s what makes it great.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book with typical Spanish style colorful pictures with lots of red, orange, and yellow, it's easy to see why kids are attracted to this book. Although there aren't enough words to even make it to a level 1 book, the thing I love about this one is the repetition. There's nothing like continual repetition when learning another language and for counting in Spanish, this is no exception. The kids had the basics down by the end of the book and that made this a good addition to the Kindergarten Basics box of books we got from our library.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Objects to count may be difficult for readers to easily ascertain in this bilingual counting book set in a Mexican market and illustrated by well-known Barbara Lavelle.

CIP: Pictures depict two sisters going from shop to shop buying birthday presents for their mother. Rhyming text presents numbers from one to ten in English and Spanish.

"Celebrates the gift of being bilingual." Booklist
"Useful tool." School Library Journal

[Kathleen Heroux · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author, Pat Mora, is Mexican-American and presents an English/Spanish counting story around a universal experience of shopping for a birthday present for mama. Cultural artifacts such as religious wall hangings, costumes and dance are found in the illustrations. The setting, howeve, does not appear to be current but rather stereotypical.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, short counting book that also has a narrative: two little girls are getting ready to celebrate their Mamá's birthday. In English, with Spanish number words. Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee, who's well known for Mama, Do You Love Me?.

[Cara Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great way to introduce Spanish culture. The illustrations are fun. I would use this in a classroom to teach how to count to ten in Spanish and also to introduce my students to a beautiful new culture.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I think this is a great bilingual counting book for kids. I think the repetitive nature is helpful for the kids to practice their Spanish counting. There is also a helpful pronunciation glossary in the back.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A counting book in both Spanish and English. Two sisters are planning a party and we count all the different decorations and amusements they pick up while shopping.

Illustrations are of a very Mexican flare!

[Elisa Pereyra-Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is part of the curriculum used in district I work for. It is a useful tool in duel language program and also in ELL classrooms. Children can be taught how to count to 10 in Spanish & English while they discuss a celebration.

[Danie P.]

Two girls go shopping for Mama's birthday. Easy easy sentences.

[Hannah]

fun mix of english and spanish, a chance to practice counting, set in Mexican market

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely pictures. equal English/Spanish text. Very focused on counting.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is cute and a good way to introduce Spanish counting into class. Unfortunately, I do not feel like there is enough of a climax or build to keep the attention of students for very long.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little counting book for little ones with a Mexican flair. Pat Mora's art is amazing, as usual.

[Angela]

Pat Mora does it again, makes language learning effortless and fun.

[Noel Tomlinson]

This is a counting book that incorporates Spanish into it as well. Think about the Christmas song Twelve Days of Christmas, but take away the Christmas stuff and add Spanish culture, and that's what this book is like.

I like this book because it incorporates Spanish culture and language into it. It can be difficult to find ways to teach young children other languages in a classroom unless it is your main focus. The pictures are fun and colorful, just like the Spanish culture.

I would use this in my classroom to have a constant multicultural environment. I would use this to introduce Spanish at an early age, because the younger you start learning a second language the easier it will be in the long run.