Abuela

Author: Arthur Dorros

Title: Abuela

Illustrator: Elisa Kleven

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Bilingual fiction

Theme: Family, immigration, love

Primary character: A little girl

Secondary character: Her grandmother

Awards: ALA Notable Children's Book, Parent's Choice Gold Award

Date of Publication: 1991

Publication Company: Puffin

Summary: While riding on a bus through Manhattan with her grandmother, a little girl imagines that they are carried up into the sky and fly over the sights of New York City, in an evocative study of the loving bond between child and grandparent.

Use with students:  Students could draw their own family trees and list family names in both English and Spanish (ex. brother -hermano, sister -hermana). They could used an online translator to look up words.  Have students imagine they are flying over their city or neighborhood and draw what they would see. They could write a paragraph to go along with it.