cover image Pio Peep! (Rpkg): Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes

Pio Peep! (Rpkg): Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes

Alma Flor Ada, F. Isabel Campoy, Alice Schertle. Rayo, $15.99 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-688-16019-7

Passing along traditional rhymes to a new generation of children is the focus of Pio Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes, selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, English adaptations by Alice Schertle, illus. by Vivi Escriva. The 29 rhymes selected here celebrate childhood, from rising with the sun to playing pat-a-cake and other games to a last look at a sleepy mouse: ""A sleepy mouse/ began to snore./ This tale is told-/ there is no more."" The Spanish rhyme and its English counterpart appear side by side, and bilingual readers may sometimes wonder at the choices made in the English versions, which are not translations but ""poetic re-creations."" The softly rounded, glowing watercolors depict children mostly in modern dress amid lush natural landscapes.