The Harvest Birds/Los pajaros de la cosecha

by Blanca López de Mariscal

Juan Zanate likes to sit under his favorite tree dreaming of becoming a farmer like his father and grandfather. But when his father dies, there is only enough land for his two older brothers. In this enchanting and inspiring story, Juan learns to determine his own destiny. The Harvest Birds offers lessons on the traditions of rural Mexico, the importance of respecting nature, and the possibility of making dreams happen.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Delicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Fiction, picture book, bilingual, Mexican folktale

Audience:

Topic: farming, zanate birds,

Theme: chasing your dreams, hard work, perseverance, respecting nature

Use: Read Aloud, Independent reading

Reading Level: Late Early

Illustrations: The illustrations are very colorful. They are highly supportive of the text.

Literary Elements: The English text is on the top part of the page; the Spanish text is on the bottom.

Thoughts:

The Harvest Birds is the story of Juan Zanata, the friend of the zanate birds. Juan wants a piece of land for farming but cannot get one because of land shortages. After trying several times, Juan finally gets a piece of land to grow corn, squash, and beans on. He listens to the advice of the zanate birds (who talk in the story) and ends up with a huge harvest.

The book has a large amount of text on each page but it is divided into English and Spanish. The sections for each language are not that long (roughly four lines apiece). The vocabulary words are mostly common words and repeat often throughout the story. The illustrations are highly supportive of the text. The text is black words on a white background and is always located in the same place on the page.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story about respecting nature, learning about the traditions of Mexico, and making dreams come true. I read this book to my third grade students, and they really enjoyed it. This story is great for teaching children about plot, recalling events, and supporting the recalled events with details from the story.