Small Readers: Hola English! It's raining cats and frogs! by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Ethan Long

This bilingual easy reader series is a new one for me, although it's apparently been around for a few years. The story of this particular title is simple and silly. On a rainy day two kids looking out a window decide to go outside, even though it's raining cats and dogs and frogs! They'll have to choose the right clothes and then the right outside activities in the rain. Back inside, it's time for reading while they wait for their things to dry.

Each page has a simple sentence or two, "Are we ready to go out on this rainy, rainy day?" repeated in Spanish. The pictures are bright and colorful, with Long's trademark minimalist humor. The back cover of the book has 36 words in English and Spanish that readers can learn in the book. The text is a little smaller than I usually like in an easy reader and I'd put it at about a level 2, since it has more complex words, but otherwise this is a series I'm very intrigued to discover. It strikes me as more than just English translated into Spanish, rather it's directed at both English and Spanish speakers, as well as bilingual readers. I can't speak to the accuracy of the Spanish, since I don't speak or read Spanish, but I assume it's on the same level as the English.

Verdict: This series will fill a niche in my library, both in offering easy readers for bilingual and Spanish readers and in offering lower level easy readers for my English speakers as well. I plan to purchase some.

ISBN: 9781609055080; This edition published 2015 by Blue Apple; Borrowed from another library in my consortium