Girasoles - Sunflowers, Del Sol Books

Author : Gwendolyn Zepeda, Illustrator : Alisha Ann Guadalupe Gambino
Preschool - 2nd Grade

Girasoles - Sunflowers, Hardcover, Bilingual, Book, Gwendolyn Zepeda, Alisha Ann Guadalupe Gambino, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781558852679, $15.95

My name is Marisol. I'm seven years old. This spring, I helped my grandfather make a garden.'' First, Marisol and her grandfather had to prepare the ground. They pulled out the old plants and weeds. They mixed up all the dirt ''to make it soft.'' Then it was time to plant the seeds. They planted seeds to grow the vegetables Mama uses in soup squash, onions, carrots, and cabbage. They planted seeds to grow the things she needs to make salsa garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and chili peppers. They planted mint for Abuela's tea. They planted watermelon seeds for Marisol and her brother. And for Grandad, they planted sunflower seeds because their ''big black eyes with long yellow eyelashes'' make him happy. And he likes to eat the seeds! One day, Marisol's grandfather gives her a small bag of sunflower seeds, but instead of eating them she plants them here and there one in the corner of Mrs. Sosa's yard, another in Mr. Binh's yard. In fact, as she walks to school, she plants seeds in the corners of all the yards she passes. And she plants the last three seeds in the playground at school. As the days pass, sometimes it's rainy and sometimes it's sunny. Finally, one bright day, Marisol's sunflower surprise shines a bit of happiness all around. The tender relationship between grandparent and grandchild is illuminated in this children's book by author Gwendolyn Zepeda with warm illustrations by Alisha Gambino. Children ages 3-7 will sow and reap ideas of their own about ways to share a little joy, just as Marisol does with sunflowers.

School Library Journal : Kindergarten-Grade 1–Seven-year-old Mirasol tells about planting a garden with her grandfather and shares those moments with others in her neighborhood, seed by seed: squash, onions, carrots, cabbage, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, chili peppers, and sunflowers! Her love for these flowers spreads across town with each new bloom and allows her to find both independence and pride in her skills and newfound knowledge while she teaches friends at school about sunflowers and gardening. Although the paintings favor adult faces and tend to age Marisol, the warmth and richness of the palette highlights expressions of loving friends and family in this child's world, and her impatience until the young plants finally appear. This book is most effective as a read-aloud in both Spanish and English; a small image of the growing sunflower helpfully divides the languages on succeeding pages.