Table Chair Bear: A Book N Many Languages

Twenty-one familiar objects that make up a child's room--table, window, bed, and doll, among others--are indentified in English and twelve other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Navajo, French, and Tagalog.

Kindergarten-Grade 3?In this concept book, 23 words or phrases depicting objects in a child's room are named in English and 12 other languages. Thus, one page features a bright painting of a teddy bear, and following the English "bear," readers find its translation into Korean, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Japanese, Portugese (Brazilian), Lao, Spanish (Mexican), Chinese (Mandarin), Tagalog, Cambodian, and Navajo. Phonetic spellings appear in smaller print after each word or phrase. Among the objects are: window, radio, lamp, bed, books. The catalog of the bedroom concludes with the phrase "please come in." Care has been taken in the book's design to support the simple text. The folk-art illustrations are simple, yet distinct, and set against a plain white page. Words and phrases are presented in blue print, while the respective phonetic spellings follow in smaller black print. Polyglot dictionaries for children are a small, but growing genre. Other notable books in this area include Ruth Brown's Alphabet Times Four (Dutton, 1991) and Patricia Borlenghi's From Albatross to Zoo (Scholastic, 1992). Table, Chair, Bear introduces a broader variety of languages, and is a departure from the alphabetical approach. It should be a solid addition to libraries wishing to expand in this area.?Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Like the Words for Everyday series reviewed above, this book focuses on naming familiar objects?the difference here being that each object is identified in 13 languages. Each spread introduces an item likely to be found in a child's room (e.g., window, clock, lamp); there's an English-language header and a column listing 12 translations. Phonetic spellings accompany each word to help with pronunciation. The penultimate spread depicts "my room" (the illustration includes all of the items pictured earlier), with the last page inviting "please come in." According to an author's note, the languages?which range from the familiar (French and Spanish) to the more exotic (Portuguese, Cambodian, Navajo)?were selected because "most... are being spoken by more and more children, many of them new to the United States." While the idea of introducing children to the nation's linguistic potpourri has merit, the simplistic presentation falls short of the goal. The book also suffers from bland visuals: single objects are rendered in flat colors against an overabundance of white space, and the few more complicated illustrations (e.g., groupings of toys, pictures, books) lack energy. Ages 2-7.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-7. A vocabulary book in 13 different languages may seem daunting, but this bright picture book does a great job of playing with differences and connections. On each page there's a bright, simple acrylic picture of a common object. The English word for the object is top center. Then 12 translations of the word are listed in large clear type down the side of the page. The languages are always in the same order: Korean, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Lao, Spanish (Mexican), Chinese (Mandarin), Tagalog, Cambodian, and Navajo. There's a pronunciation guide under each word, including the English. Translation isn't easy to read: of course, children will need help with the phonetic symbols, and they'll need to keep referring back to the front list to see which language and alphabet are which. But the objects are all from a child's room, and kids will enjoy seeing how much we have in common as well as how differently we talk and write. The book will encourage those, whether immigrant or native, who are grappling with a new language. Hazel Rochman