Número Uno

by Alex Dorros, Arthur Dorros, Susan Guevara

. A bilingual picture book that will be #1 this spring!

From a talented team, this hilarious tale of competition run amok is told with a sprinkling of Spanish and a heaping spoonful of charm.

Which is better, brains or brawn? In a small village, Hercules is known for his great strength and Socrates for his keen intelligence. Whenever the villagers have a problem, they go to one or the other for help. Each man believes that he is the most important person in town. And the two fight about it constantly. Who, their neighbors wonder, will resolve the question that instigates all this bickering?

The villagers realize they must settle the argument once and for all by finding out who is “número uno.” They devise a clever test, and Hercules and Socrates, each sure he will win, go along with it. The answer is a surprise for everyone

“I came up with the idea for Número Uno in sixth grade when the class was asked to write fables. I thought that these two characters, one with outstanding intelligence and one with exceptional brawn, would together create an entertaining story. It could also carry a valuable lesson, as fables do. The story was originally set in China, but to me it is universal. We later decided to change to a Spanish-speaking setting, which I am more familiar with.

“I grew up bilingual, speaking English and Spanish, and have visited many Latin American countries, including going to school there for a short while. I’m now sixteen years old and am enjoying living in Seattle. I spend much of my free time going to the nearby mountains (like Hercules and Socrates do in the book), in my case to snowboard. I also create my own stories through taking photographs, a few of which have now been published. I stay busy with playing baseball and going to high school.

“As we wrote the book, the story stayed essentially as I originally had it, though we went through seemingly endless numbers of revisions and ended up changing details in the process. Writing a book with your dad is definitely not the easiest of tasks. At some points we reminded ourselves of the bickering characters in the story. Ultimately we were able to work together to create what I hope is a book you’ll enjoy.”—Alex Dorros on the creation of Número Uno with his father Arthur Dorros

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Spanish Literature, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seemed just okay to me. It was very useful for language and teaching students Spanish words. It was entertaining and funny, with pretty illustrations. However, the ending was too abrupt. As far as craft, the ending just fell off. It did not conclude the story and almost seemed as if there were pages missing at the end. I wanted to know if the men ever took responsibility for their actions and arguing. This ending was ambiguous as far as craft goes. I do not think that ambiguous endings give me closure and definitely can seem unsettling to children.
The beginning and middle really captivated me and I was let down on the last page. All in all, it's a good book to introduce children to other languages, but isn't a good use to show them how a story should be structured, with beginning, middle and captivating ending.
I could use this in my class to introduce another language and explore which students speak different languages and have them share this with the class. It would be another good way to get to know my students better and for them to make connections and build bonds with each other.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about two boys, Hercules and Socrates. They thought they were better than the other because Hercules thought he was strong and Socrates thought he was smart. They fought constantly and did not get along. Well, the people in the village wanted to build a bridge across a river and so they called Socrates to do it and he thought it was because he was "numero uno" (number one). Hercules disagreed with this idea, and then Socrates disagreed with Hercules actually building the bridge. They continued to argue about everything throughout the whole book.The book then just comes to an abrupt stop. This book could be used in the classroom when doing a lesson on diversity. Also, it teaches some Spanish words such as "Si!" and "numero uno". It is good in a classroom to teach the children some basic words in other languages and help educate them on other cultures.

[Gardavson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. A fun and quirky book. Lots of fun to read and contains enough Spanish to make it fun while learning, without being overwhelmingly bilingual. The only reason it didn't receive a higher score from me is because, although it was a lot of fun to read, the message did not come across very clear.

[Julie]

Two men in a village argue over who is better. Hercules is very strong so he must be better. But Socrates was very intelligent, he must be better. They find out that both were needed to build the bridge.
This book was a decent read. It had very colorful pictures and the use of both english and spanish would be great for introducing other languages and culture to the children in my class

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book primarily for its pictures. My kids both enjoyed the occasional spanish phrases that were mixed in with the story and pictures.