It always warmed my heart when I get to share a new bilingual children’s book with parents that follow my work. In my humble opinion, our home libraries can never have enough books! In any language! But of course, I am partial to bilingual books because children get to practice their reading in both languages. And if parents are monolingual, they get to understand the story their children are reading. Even more heartwarming is to write a post about a book written by an author from my little island of Puerto Rico and I get to beam with #Boricuapride!
While walking through the enchanted forest, three-year-old Monica finds four dogs alone. Playful and animated, she immediately decides she needs to find them a home. And so, it begins the story of the beautifully illustrated book, The Colorful World of Monica: A doggie Adventure, the first bilingual children’s book by Puerto Rican copywriter and now author, Maria Mercedes Rodriguez Marquez and illustrated by her artist brother, Gerardo Rodriguez.
Excited to meet Monica, the colorful dogs start making all kinds of happy dog-like noises and lively gestures that help her come up with names for all of them. Then she takes them home and tells her mom she is going to find homes for each of them.
New Bilingual Children’s Book, The Colorful World of Monica: A doggie adventure by Puerto Rican author Maria Mercedes Rodriguez Marquez
The book takes us on a journey where innocence and hope abound. A little girl that loves dogs and she is determined to make them happy and make others happy by having them.
The idea for The Colorful World of Monica: A doggie Adventure, was born from the artistic talent of the illustrator, Gerardo Rodriguez who one day took a picture of Monica and he drew illustrations around it. His sister loved the concept and they decided to work on a children’s book that she would write, and he would illustrate with his artistic, eye-catching and colorful illustrations using Monica’s pictures as a focal point. Very clever, don’t you think?
Though the book was written for preschool age children, Rodriguez Marquez sees it as a book that is read from birth to about 10 years old. “Monica loves to read. We sometimes read two or three times a day. Since birth. Starting that early encourages children to love reading,” she said.
In addition to hope, the author wanted to teach children about dogs and dog-care. “I’m very passionate about humane education and I absolutely love dogs. Gerardo’s art is very focused on dogs as well, so it was a perfect combination. We want kids to know that dogs belong with families and having a dog is a lifetime commitment.”
My favorite part of the book? Well, I can’t share yet, until you read the book! I liked the use of photography and the illustrations and how the story is told in bubbles in English and in a regular font in Spanish. What touched me the most? The story itself, of course. How at a very young age children understand the concept of home and family, even for our canine friends. Especially since my son and his girlfriend just rescued a dog named Momo. The cutest thing! Now part of my family! But honestly, I was touched by the fact that from a few emails and a phone call, my name was included in the book acknowledgments. How cool is that? It really is a wonderful thing to be there for those that need help, including dogs!
Gratitude, it is a powerful feeling. And Monica’s dogs and their owners were ever so grateful!
The Colorful World of Monica: A Doggie Adventure is available on Amazon. It’s also available on select stores in Los Angeles and Puerto Rico: Los Angeles: Karen’s Toys in Encino Place, Encino. Next week it will also be available in Book Monster in Santa Monica and Skylight Books near Hollywood. In Puerto Rico, you can find it at The Bookmark in San Patricio and at Toys 2 Learn in San Juan.
Excited to share that Monica’s adventures continue and the next story takes her to the beach. I promise to keep you posted!
Bai, Bai,
Maritere
Related articles
Extraordinaria historia de niña sobre cómo encontrarle hogar a los perritos
