Strange Visitors
Una extraña visita
Each day of the week a new set of visitors appears, bringing with them rhythm and joy. A wonderful book for choral reading and play acting. Children learn the days of the week as a game and become acquainted with different animals and musical instruments.
Authors Note
Writing this book was a pleasurable exercise. I wrote it specifically before a visit to a first grade class in Santa Barbara, California. I wanted to bring the children a model that they could use to create their own books. It’s been a true satisfaction to see through the years how many other classes have used the book for the same purpose. And a joy to witness how many children know the text by heart and delight repeating it.
REVIEWS
School Library Journal
About Stories for the Telling: A charming series, illustrated with watercolor and pen-and-ink drawings. The stories are told in a humorous style and are enhanced throughout by Ada’s gift for language and poetry. El Canto del mosquito / The Song of the Teeny Tiny Mosquito is the droll story of a frog who eats a mosquito and whose song then sounds like that of a mosquito. The frog is eaten by a fish, who then sings like a mosquito, etc. Una extraña visita / Strange Visitors is a humorous counting story of the days of the week in rhyme. Me gustaría tener… / How Happy I Would Be… lists the various things “I would like to have…” Again in a counting-book format, the desired items all turn out to be animals involved in unusual activities (e.g. two giraffes reading with glasses). ¿Quién nacerá aquí? / Who’s hatching Here?, in contrast to the others, is a science book. Rhyming riddles ask which animal will hatch from different eggs. The eggs are presented in their natural habitats; both illustrations and text hint at the answers.
READERS’ RESPONSES
If you have enjoyed reading or sharing this book, I would very much like to hear from you. Please click here to send your comments.
