Hello, Amigos!

by Tricia Brown

Follows a day, a birthday, in the life of a Mexican American child, who lives with his family in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Genres: Cultural, Picture Books

42 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Chiquita wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Help amigos! It is a great way to integrate other languages into your classroom or home. Everyone has a celebration, and some children can participate in the celebration. There may be a celebration in your classroom, and this class is held together.

[Grace Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great as it introduces different culture and opens up a great conversation topic. Children can talk about how other countries celebrate birthdays or holidays and learn to accept and appreciate them.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some Spanish words mixed in with English.

[Andria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pictures are dated now, although the black and white photos mutes it a bit so you don’t notice the dated look as much.

[Paola Nunez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like how this book has a mixture of both English and Spanish. I wish there would be more color added to the illustrations.

[Julia Henderson]

This is a Hispanic American book.

Lexile Level: 630L

Grade Level: K-2

[Makenzie VanderHorst · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you come from being Hispanic-American, she related to the theme of the book.
Thank you Tricia Brown!! This is so good for keeping diversity in the classroom!

[Alishea Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how this book showed Frankie's culture traditional festivities in the Mission District of San Francisco. This book is great to introduce students to another cultural setting.

[Sequoia Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talks about diversity. I do wish the pictures were in color but overall good book.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main Characters: Frankie Valdez
POV: First Person
Setting: San Francisco
Grade Level: K-2
Summary:
Hello Amigos is about a young boy growing up San Francisco who speaks Spanish in his home. The student talks in the beginning of the book about what subjects he enjoys in school and what he enjoys doing in his free time. Frankie is walking around inviting students in his afterschool program to his birthday party that day. At the party Frankie’s family is waiting with him with Mexican food and a piñata to celebrate the day taking part in their customs and traditions that are associated with birthdays.
Classroom Application:
This book would open up a good discussion about different birthday customs in different cultures. Also it would be good to use this book if here was a bilingual student in the room because they could take ownership of the Spanish words that are used throughout the book. I think it would be culturally relevant because it would be a good glimpse into some cultural background that students otherwise would not have been exposed to.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like central focus of the book, I too am Mexican-American and there is literally no reason why this book should make me feel so nostalgic. This is a book to dive into the waters of language but for some reason it touched me beyond that sense.

I just felt like I was in the pictures of the book. The settings and people are things you do see in Hispanic’s everyday life. It just felt like I was or was with the main character in this book. Which is a funny thing to say for such a short book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is told in Spanish.

It is about a little boy named Frankie Valdez who tells a little about his family, that it's his birthday, and what he is learning at school. Frankie also attends a Boys Club after school program.

When Frankie got home his family celebrated his birthday with food, music, and a pinata.

[Jelisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book would be a great fit into any classroom because of the rich spanish language found in the pages. i also think this would be a great book to have in the classroom for Ell students that speak spanish as their primary language.

[Deborah Harris]

RL 2.75