I Love Saturdays y Domingos
Written By: Alma Flor Ada
Published: 2002
I absolutely adored this book. The story is so beautifully simple, that readers of all ages will be able to relate to the young narrator and her explanation of why she loves Saturdays y domingos. The girl focuses on her two sets of grandparents and shows how they are alike and different. Her father's parents are of European descent, while her mother's parents are Mexican-American. Ada does an excellent job of showing the reader how her two sets of grandparents are different instead of telling. She uses an assortment of vivid colors in the illustrations used to describe the paternal grandparents. For the maternal grandparents, Ada used warm, earthy colors to set a different tone for this side of the family. The reader can tell that the young narrator loves all of her grandparents equally and appreciates and celebrates the unique qualities that each set brings into her life.
The use of Spanish in this book added a unique touch to this book. It really helped the reader "feel" the story and learn about each side of the narrator's family. This would be a great book to use for a lesson on using context clues to determine what unknown words in the text mean. The illustrations also aid the reader with decoding what the Spanish terms might mean.
I Love Saturdays y domingos is a book that every teacher should have in their library. It is an excellent representation of the Mexican-American culture and does a great job of demonstrating that even though two people may be different, similarities can be found that bring everybody together. Definitely a new found favorite book that is very deserving of a 4.5 star rating.
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