Today, it is my stop on the blog tour for When Chicken and Duck Talk: Learning To Swim, brought to you by Hear Our Voices and I am excited to suggest great readalikes after you read this loveable picture book by Joanna Szeto and illustrated by RaeAnne Lee!
When Chicken and Duck Talk: Learning To Swim is not only a picture book about an unlikely yet adorable friendship between a chick and a duck, but also a trilingual picture book! The Chick speaks Cantonese, and the Duck speaks Mandarin, but despite their differences, they are the best of friends. A friendship that provides a funny opportunity for Duck to teach Chick how to swim. However, mainly, this picture book provides an accessible learning experience, giving readers of all ages a chance to learn a new language. Readers will find the pronunciation guide, along with the text, a very useful teaching tool, and a QR code that lets you hear the pronunciation of most of the words. Overall, this is a picture book that provides a learning and immersive experience beyond the pages, and both parents and educators will want to introduce young readers to different languages. If you are looking for an activity book to help prevent the “summer slide”, you will want to pick this one up.
Children and adults can begin learning or practicing a new language by reading picture books. And there are many bilingual and trilingual books that provide a similar reading experience as When Chicken and Duck Talk: Learning To Swim. So if you are looking for more books that do just that, why not try the following recommendations?
CHI Miigwech, Big Thank You by Astra Márta and illustrated Jordan Stranger
Chi miigwech means big thank you in Anishinaabemowin.
We can say chi miigwech for the natural world, the plants and animals and even the creatures we cannot see. Chi miigwech for our basic needs like food and shelter and for everything we feel and experience. Chi miigwech for the Seven Grandfathers Teachings: truth, love, honesty, courage, humility, wisdom and respect. And chi miigwech for you! (Credit: Orca Book Publishers)
¡Vamos! Let’s Go Read by Raúl the Third
Little Lobo and his friends are excited for the out-of-this-world book festival the Guadalupian Library hosts every year!
Everyone has a special book they’re looking for, but there’s so much to see and do first. From cookbook demonstrations and comics workshops to mask making and language classes, this library has something for everyone. Can Little Lobo, Bernabé, Kooky Dooky, Coco Rocho, and La Chida each find the book of their dreams?
Full of easy-to-remember Spanish vocabulary and packed with fun details, this colorful celebration of books, libraries, and all forms of reading will bring joy to young bookworms everywhere! (Credit: Versify)
Pêyak Little Duck by Sandra Lamouche and illustrated by Mando Littlechild
Let’s go on a walk and practice our language!
What birds will we see? I see one sîsîp / pêyak little duck!
In a celebration of the connection between language learning and the land, a young child enjoys a walk in nature and spots different birds while practicing counting from one to ten in Plains Cree. With bright illustrations, rhyming clues in English and pronunciation guides on every page, pêyak little duck is a friendly introduction to Plains Cree and a celebration of the beauty of springtime in the Prairies and the Plains. (Credit: Orca Book Publishers)
Tiger Brother: A Tale in English and Chinese by Li Jian
Changsheng’s father brings home a homeless tabby kitten.
However, as the kitten grows older, they realize that it’s actually a little tiger.
Soon Changsheng and the little tiger become so attached to each other.
Wearing a tiger-head hat made by his mother, Changsheng and the little tiger become best brothers.
However, the villagers are scared of the tiger.
Changsheng has no choice but to send the little tiger back to the mountains.
The little tiger promises that it will return in times of need.
All Changsheng has to do is to put on his tiger-head hat and yell “Tiger Brother” from the top of the mountain.
One day a gang of robbers appear in the village.
Since the villagers are unable to resist the robbers, Changsheng runs up to the top of the mountain, yelling for his tiger brother.
The tiger brother and his brave tiger friends arrive to their rescue, driving away all the robbers out of the village.
The tiger brother returns to the mountains, but it keeps its promise to Changsheng forever.
A story about bravery, love, and promise, it also introduces the characteristics of people born in the Year of the Tiger, the origin of the Siberian tiger, and the history of the tiger-head hat. (Credit: Scpg)
Cascarones: An Easter Surprise / Una Sorpresa de Pascuas by Alicia Salazar and illustrated by Aimee del Valle
A young girl excitedly anticipates Easter and the confetti-filled eggs, or cascarones, she and her parents make for the holiday.
As always, the preparation begins in January, and they collect eggshells for months.
Engaging illustrations by Aimee Del Valle show the family working together as the girl describes the process of making the confetti-filled eggs, from creating a hole in the shell to drain the insides, to covering the hole with colored paper, dying them bright colors, inserting the confetti and decorating the colored shells.
When Easter Sunday arrives, her dad hides the eggs at the neighborhood park, where all her aunts, uncles and cousins gather.
Young Nicolás enjoys his first Easter egg hunt and quickly learns how to find the treasures.
And when all 100 cascarones have been found, the boy is in for one final surprise!
This bilingual picture book for children ages 4-8 is a joyous celebration of family and the Mexican-American holiday tradition of making–and cracking on each other’s heads!
–eggs filled with colorful paper.
Kids will want to use the recipe included in the book to make their very own cascarones. (Credit: Pinata Books)
Words to Make a Friend: A Story in Japanese and English by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Naoko Stoop
When a young Japanese girl moves into her new house, she is happy to see a girl her age playing in the snow just outside her window. The only problem is the Japanese girl doesn’t speak English and the American girl doesn’t speak Japanese.
How will these two girls have any fun at all? As it turns out, it’s not that hard when both girls are looking for a friend! What starts with a simple “hello” and “konnichiwa” becomes a day filled with fun in the snow.
Each girl’s love of play, snow, and making a new friend transcends the need to speak the same language, and by using simple words in their own languages, along with a bit of charades, the girls find they have all they need to build a snow creature.
An important book to show children that speaking the same language isn’t a prerequisite to making a new friend. (Credit: Random House Studio)
Bye Land, Bye Sea by René Spencer & Rodolfo Montalvo
I’m lost.
Soy naufrago.
A boy and a girl lost at sea run into each other on an island, but they quickly realize there is a huge barrier between them. They speak two different languages. Hesitant and unsure, they must figure out how to connect despite their differences, if they want to find a way home.
Dynamic picture book creators René Spencer and Rodolfo Montalvo join forces in this powerful picture book about connection and the perseverance of friendship.(Credit: Roaring Brook Press)
Veo, Veo, I See You by Lulu Delacre
Marisol’s mami is the best cook at Rosita’s Cafe! But now, the restaurant is closed. A bad virus—too easy to catch in small, crowded places—is going around.
Marisol, Pepito, and Mami still need to go out to bring Mami’s arroz con pollo to housebound Tía Olga and Cousin Johnny. As Marisol and Pepito watch the people working around the neighborhood, who their mother explains have essential work, Marisol thinks of the perfect game to play:
Veo, veo…
¿Qué ves, Marisol?
I spy…a trash collector. Essential work. Those bins were full!
By the time they get home, Marisol has another idea: a way to show the people in her neighborhood that she sees them! (Credit: Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
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