Opuestos

Chicago Tribune

Books about opposites have a surprisingly strong appeal to very young children. The concept of opposition opens up a new way of looking at everything, both what a child sees and what she can imagine as the opposite. The visual images are small, expressive Oxacan folk-art animals, carved by Quirino and Martin Santiago. “Day,” for example, shows a white dog with black spots, poised to play; “Night” is a black dog, with white streaks, howling at the moon. The words—Spanish and English—are simply placed at the bottom on the page, so there’s no confusing proliferation of places for the eyes to rest. In fact, it’s hard to take one’s eyes off this book, the wood sculptures are so appealing, so re-readings are probable.

Mary Harris Russell, professor emerita of English at Indiana University Northwest, reviews children’s books weekly for Tribune Newspapers.

- Mary Harris Russell, August 2, 2009