My Town / Mi pueblo
by Nicholas Solis; illus. by Luisa Uribe
Primary    Paulsen/Penguin    32 pp.    g
8/22    978-0-593-10991-5    $17.99
e-book ed.  978-0-593-10992-2    $10.99

This enjoyable bilingual picture book highlights cousins on each side of the U.S./Mexico border. English text narrates the U.S. (girl) cousin’s point of view, and Spanish text narrates the Mexican (boy) cousin’s. Rather than being a direct translation, the words are unique to each character; although the cousins are relating the same basic information, their stories are refreshingly authentic-sounding on their own. The text is simple enough for young bilingual readers or for anyone learning either Spanish or English, making this a great family, classroom, or library read-aloud. Uribe’s illustrations provide a depth of interest and busyness that allow viewers to fall into the pictures, looking for differences and similarities between the Mexican and U.S. towns and families shown. Uribe provides a representative balance of all colors of people on both sides of the border and within each family. In fact, sometimes it’s unclear which house/town/country pictured is which (although we see more white people on this book’s U.S. side despite most actual U.S. border towns being sixty percent Hispanic/Latine). The book does address border crossings, mentioning long lines and showing security officers and barbed wire, which comes off as realistic without being heavy-handed.

From the November/December 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.