Tim Johnson (4)

I was asked on Goodreads(the greatest site in the world, btw) to review a children's book. The request came from the books author, which concerned me a bit. It is not even easy to give critical reviews on a book that you have purchased, much less been given by the author. I wondered if I could write a negative review if need be even though I knew the author would be reading it.

After reading Bosley goes to the Beach I will still have to wonder! This is a book in a series of books aimed at helping children learn a new language. The book is setup with multiple tools to strengthen the new language learning. There is side-by-side English and Spanish with certain corresponding words highlighted. There are full page illustrations and some of them focus on vocabulary words that tie in well with the story. Children will learn simple phrases, words, and numbers all while enjoying a fun story with beautiful illustrations.

These books are available in a variety of languages and I would encourage anyone to try one out and enjoy it with their kids.… (más)

★★★★Bosley Goes to the Beach:A Dual-Language Book in English and Spanish by Tim Johnson

I was given this R2R in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a cute story for toddlers, about a bear going to the beach. There is repetition and picture match up for memorization recognition.

This is set up with English and Spanish side by side. This didn't really do much for us. It's been 20 years since I took Spanish, so not sure I was really pronouncing part of it correctly. This made me not really want to read that side, so I was teaching them wrong. This would be ok for site recognition, but it is geared towards kids, that aren't reading for themselves.

I think this would be a great learning tool, if the parent knew the language and could speak it properly. My 2yo nephew was repeating the words I knew, and really enjoyed the story in general.

Thanks to the author for sharing this story with me.… (más)

What a clever idea for exposing children to another language. Instead of simply having a Spanish or German version of a book, this book is available in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, with the English version in each edition. The book is a simple but engaging story about a bear who goes adventuring. The child can follow along in English as well as one of the other languages. My version was Spanish, and it was fun to see how much of my college Spanish I remembered. It includes many tools for helping children learn including highlighted words and a glossary in the back of the book. The illustrations are beautifully executed and Bosley is a delightful character. This book is well worth purchasing for your child.… (más)

Sweet little Bosley tells his Momma that he's tired of their tiny cave, and decides he's going on an adventure and discover new things in the world. It doesn't take long before he realizes just how big the world really is, and is met by amazing discoveries at every turn.

Bosley Sees the World is one of the most adorable books I have read with my son in quite some time. The illustrations are, well, just too cute, and the content is at a high enough level for my son (almost 4yrs old) to stay interested. So much so that we read the book four times in a row, and first thing the next morning he asked if we could read "the bear book" again.

I never had to take a foreign language at school, so any Spanish I do know is courtesy of watching Sesame Street with my kids - thank you Super Grover. But it was fun to sit with my son and try to find the Spanish words we do know, and learn ones we don't. It's a great way to keep the book interesting, beyond just the story, and help teach him about language and letter recognition.

Overall this was a really fun book for both my son and I, and even my 11 year old daughter sat down to read it too. Who, by the way, is taking basic Spanish, and this book is great for helping her work on it without it feeling like work! If you take a gander at the website for Bosley, you'll find that this book is available in many language combinations. For dual language households of all kinds, I'm sure you'll find one that works for you. I give this book two very happy thumbs up from me, and both of my kids, and would recommend this to anyone with littleone's they love to read to or with.

**My review copied from my blog, CrazyLadywithaPen.blogspot.com… (más)