"MARGARET AND MARGARITA" 

"MARGARET y MARGARITA"

Reiser, L. (1993). Margaret and Margarita, Margarita y Margaret. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Readability Lexile: None Available

Target Audience: Anyone who wants to learn Spanish

Setting: A Park

Theme: Two girls meet in a park, Margaret and Margarita

Characters: Margaret, Margarita, their favorite stuffed toy, and their Mothers

Summary: Margaret and Margarita is a bilingual book about two girls who don't want to go the park. Both Mothers take them to the Park even though the girls complain that there is nobody to play with there. Upon arriving at the park, the two girls meet. They are a bit shy towards each other, but eventually say hello/hola and begin a friendship. 

Margaret speaks English and Margarita speaks Spanish,but that barrier soon breaks down as each girl starts to talk and learn each others language. By the end of the book, the girls are friends, know a bit of the others language, and can't wait to come back to the park tomorrow. 

This is a wonderful book for children to read and will enable them to pick up a little Spanish as well. I did! The illustrations are water colors and are well done with one exception. The Spanish girl and her mother don't display true Hispanic features. If I were to write a book that features a certain ethnicity, I would make them appear as close to that ethnicity as possible. I don't think it destroys what the book is attempting to depict and would use in my classroom to allow students to see how easy it is to get along with someone who may not be able to understand you upon first meeting. It does meet the requirements for high quality literature set forth by Norton (2011)