Delicious Hullabaloo / Pachanga deliciosa

by Pat Mora

In this poem in English and Spanish, lizards, armadillos, and other creatures of the night make merry beneath the desert moon

Genres: Picture Books, Spanish Literature, Poetry, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Pat Mora (born 1942) is a female Mexican-American author and poet. Pat Mora was born in El Paso, Texas. She is married and has 3 grown children.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good read aloud option to teach children about poetry. This book also has amazing multicultural aspects because it contains both English and Spanish texts. Great for introducing poetry because it’s through an entertaining story form. The illustrations are also quite nice.

[Lupe Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful illustrations. Would use for a young age group. 2-3 year olds

[Kaycee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Food, dancing, family and friends: Delicious Hullabaloo is the story of a fiesta thrown throughout the night. The characters in the story are lizards, armadillos, fish, and birds. They make salsa, and dance and tell stories throughout the night. The story is written as a rhyming poem with an English and a Spanish version, and the Spanish version isn't just a straight translation it is also set up as a poem with the same rhythm and rhyming as the English version. The English version itself also has some Spanish words thrown in to continue with the Mexican fieta feel. The illustrations are all brightly done with bright reds, yellows, oranges and greens to help contribute to the excited fiesta feeling the poems in the books are trying to convey. The animals themselves act out the scenes of the poem but their expressions are a little dead. They don't have any expressions in their faces and their eyes are all the same dead fish-eye style. The colors work well for the story but the expressions of the animals, being non-existent, don't give off a party feel. I listened to the book as an audio recording read by Rosi Amador and she did a good job and had a very expressive reading voice. When it was a particular character talking she made their voices different than the narration. On the CD there is a version with both the English and the Spanish, then there is an only English version, and an only Spanish version. Amador was clear and concise no matter the language and she kept the same tones for the different parts she read so that it was still clear which part she was portraying despite the language. This is a book that would be appropriate for grades K-2 to read as a reading book but it could be used in any grade as a beginning level Spanish language book.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book to introduce to kids. It has the words in both English and Spanish. While the English part was a little hard to follow sometimes, it was really great to introduce my daughter to some more Spanish. It also helped my husband and I brush up on our Spanish skills (it's been a while since I've had to use them!). We even learned a few new words from this book. But it pointed out that I have forgotten how the emphasis on words works in Spanish, lol.

We're just trying to introduce Spanish to our daughter since living in Arizona, there are a lot of Spanish speakers...and it's important for her to hear it young so it will be easier for her to learn as she gets older.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The playful bilingual poem and illustrations go so well together. The poem is about a party that the lizards, armadillos, fish, birds and bees are having, which involves lots of lovely fruit and music. They even make salsa while playing the guitar. I would love to join in their delicious hullabaloo!

[Mainchild]

SPAN PIC Mora

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

English and Spanish text (in poem form) is the story about animals having a party. I can see reading this to a group and it will be a nice addition to our K-6 library. Colorful two dimensional illustrations. The English text has a Spanish word in it--I just wish they had a glossary in the back. I'll have to look up these words before I read it to a group--they could have save me a little time. Although my classes have plenty of Spanish speakers, so I could rely on them to translate for me, which is a nice way to include them and respect their bi-lingualism. May also use on the week I talk about cooking.