Three Friends: A Counting Book/Tres Amigos: Un Cuento Para Contar

by María Cristina Brusca (Illustrator), Toña Wilson

Count your way through this rollicking adventure in the Southwest. Learn the numbers in English and Spanish from one to ten, plus other words you need to know to be a good cowboy or cowgirl. With armadillos, roadrunners, tumbleweeds, snakes, and coyotes on the loose, it all adds up to great fun!

Esta divertida aventura te enseñará a encontrar el camino de uno a diez en inglés y en español. También aprenderás otras palabras indispensables para ser un buen vaquero o vaquera. ¡Armadillos, correcaminos, plantas rodadoras, serpientes y coyotes! Todos se suman a esta desopilante travesura en el sudoeste de los Estados Unidos.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

28 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1995

About the author

Maria Cristina Brusca grew up on a ranch on the "pampas" of Argentina, where she rode a "caballo" and met many "vaqueros." She has written and illustrated many picture books, including "On the Pampas" and "My Mama's Little Ranch on the Pampas."
She now lives in Port Ewen, New York.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Bumiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, Diez!

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book counts from one to ten and back to one. There is one horse on the first page, two cowboys on the second page, three friends on the third, and so on. Throughout this picture book, the three friends come across other things that would be in a desert, such as tumbleweeds, cactuses, armadillos, coyotes, etc. On the last page there is one moon. The numbers and desert items are written in both English and Spanish. Reading this book would be a great way to help Spanish speaking children learn English and help other children learn Spanish. It can make Spanish speaking children develop a since of belonging and help other children learn more about their language. This book would probably be used with younger children, or children who are struggling to learn the English language.

Activities:
1) I would use this book to develop multicultural understanding. When reading the book, I would have the children bring the numerical representation of each number along with the name in English and Spanish to the board as we come to that number. Then we would talk about how the Spanish word and the English word are both names for the number.
2) During math time, the children could recall the various items found in the desert and make a pictograph. Then the children could count again from one to ten and back to one.

[Katlin Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bilingual counting book for children. It has the Spanish and English names for numbers 1 through 10. The book also gives examples of different things in both languages, such as one horse/un caballo. There are also 2 cowboys, 3 friends, 4 armadillos, 5 cows, 6 tumbleweeds, 7 rattlesnakes, 8 coyotes, 9 roadrunners, and 10 cactus (also in Spanish). In the end of the book, one moon shines over all in Spanish and in English.

This book would be great to use to incorporate the Spanish language into the classroom. However, the title does always make me think of the movie "The Three Amigos" with Martin Short, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin because I loved that movie when I was little.

[Haley Bergman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three Friends/Tres Amigos is a counting book that contains Spanish translations on each page. The story is about three friends and three friends that embark on a cowboy adventure together. As they encounter new objects, they could how many there are. I would use this book in a primary grades to teach counting in Spanish as well as some Spanish vocabulary words. Three Friends/Tres Amigos could be a good introduction to a project where students create their own counting book with Spanish translations.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will work in the cowboy-themes storytime, especially in trying to implement teaching a concept. Now I have a counting book, and to make it different I can have the kids repeat the numbers in Spanish. I won't try to have them say all the other stuff in Spanish, since I'm not sure I would pronounce it correctly!

Lots of action on the pages, which should also keep their attention.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

It works "okay". I didn't attempt the Spanish, and that might have helped some... but...

I sure wish there were better short cowboy books out there.

[Andrés · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very clever format for a counting book. Rarely do books count up and then down. On the way back down, each of the groups springs into wild action until one moon rises above the desert. Vocabulary is fairly unusual as well with the book's setting, and the book is bilingual all the way through, including jacket text.