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Isla loves her island home, especially her animal friends. She has a special secret - she can talk to them and understand them! So she's excited and nervous when a new family moves in next door, with a girl just her age. Her first meeting with Tora, a self-declared city girl, does not go well and Isla determines to hide her secret ability. But how can she makes friends with Tora when she's too shy to speak, Tora doesn't like her animal friends, and she has to keep her special ability secret?
The text is in a very simple, heavily bolded font and the pictures are thick and blocky black ink as well. Isla has dark brown skin and thick, curly hair and her animal friends are slightly cartoonish. Tora appears fair-skinned in the black and white illustrations, but in the second book, when she is portrayed in color on the cover, she is shown with brown skin and straight, brown hair. A few Spanish words are sprinkled throughout the text and the names are all simple approximations. "Isla Verde" loves her island home of Sol, "Tora Rosa" loves pink and comes from the big city, "La Ciudad."
Verdict: The diversity of the characters and the addition of talking animals, as well as the simple text, makes this stand out from the many other beginning chapter books out there, and it's sure to be a popular choice for young readers. Hand to fans of friendship and animal stories.
ISBN: 9781665926539; Published December 2022 by Little Simon; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Added to my order list
2 comments:
This was a bit young for my middle school, but definitely a fun read for beginning readers. The important question, though, is... do YOU get to wear the dinosaur costume?
Lol, I am firmly in the "you don't pay me enough to wear costumes" camp. Those who enjoy wearing costumes are welcome to do so!
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