A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas

by Pat Mora, Magaly Morales (Illustrator)

An award-winning author and a rising star artist have put a festive Latino twist on "The Twelve Days of Christmas," populating it with piñatas in place of partridges, plus burritos bailando (dancing donkeys), lunitas cantando (singing moons), and much more, all displayed in the most vivid colors imaginable. In this version a little girl receives gifts from a secret amiga, whose identity is a sweet surprise at the book's conclusion. There are things to find and count in Spanish on every page, with pronunciations provided right in the pictures and a glossary and music following the story. This joyous fiesta will warm even the coldest of hearts.

Genres: Picture Books, Christmas, Childrens, Spanish Literature, Holiday, Cultural, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2009

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

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new take on the 12 Days of Christmas - and I learned some new Spanish words! A wonderful book to put on your Christmas 'shelf' that you will come back to every year! The art really complements the story; brought back lots of great memories of Christmas from when I was a little boy.

[Becka Whitlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good book explaining the Spanish heritage during christmas, explaining traditions and giving fun recipes. I think that it would be a really good book to introduce around the holidays when we are talking about diffrent hertiges and ethnicity during the holiday season, in a fun loving relatable way.

[Valeria Ayala-Nazario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This diverse and cultural book showed Latino Holiday traditions. This book has fun, explanatory images. The text is presented in fun and colorful fonts and sizes. this book is great to teach cultures and could be used in a music class. Also, Latino students could relate and me engaged with this book.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and my son liked it well enough--a keeper!

[Whitney Pittsenbarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the kids really liked this version of the twelve days of Christmas.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pinata in a Pine Tree is a 2010 Americas Award commended title. For me, this was a great mix of English and Spanish writing. The books refers to the 12 days of Christmas but the items are in Spanish such as getting pastelitos on the second day of Christmas and lunitas cantado on the eleventh day. The book phonetically writes out the word as to pronounce it correctly, and it also contains an extensive glossary which explains what each item means in English if one is unsure when putting together the words with the illustrations, which are gorgeous. Magaly Morales also illustrated another Americas Award book What Can you do with a Paleta? While this would be a great read aloud book, it may be best for middle or upper elementary grades as it can be a little tricky for non Spanish speakers to read and pronounces some of the words. I think it's a wonderful holiday book and am surprised it wasn't an Americas winner.

[JJ Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a terrific book celebrating the Latin 12 days of Christamas. The author's note explains that Mexico has a version of the traditional American Christmas song, however this version begins on December 25th and goes until January 5th. The illustrations have a magical, almost floating feeling about them. The words are written in a lyrical fashion, dipping up and down the page that reminds me of singing a song. Each illustration shows the gift of the day, alone with a pronunciation for the word. It is written in both English and Spanish, so that readers of both languages can enjoy this book. The end of the book gives an informative glossary and pronunciation guide and the Author's Note and the Illustrator's Note also contains very interesting facts and details about this holiday tradition.

[Loretta Benenati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copyright
Multicultural

I want to focus on creating an extensive library of books portraying Hispanic/Latino characters and culture. So, I began by acquiring several Toma Rivera award winners. When searching for those books, several others were brought to my attention.

I adore this book. Maybe because we have done a lot with the 12 Days of Christmas this year, but this book fit beautifully into what we were doing. Plus, I got to see the little faces light up on my Hispanic/Latino students when they saw situations and characters with which they could relate!

[jess ~has abandoned GR~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute.

The Spanish words may become daunting for non-Spanish speakers as you get to the end of the song and you have to go through a list of 12 items. You can do it!

You could encourage active reading with non-Spanish speaking kids by asking them what they think each item may mean. They'll eventually figure out that pajaritos serenando are the little singing birds, and you might get some funny guesses along the way.

[Amy Salamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice twist on a song that many children are already familiar with. My 8-year-old enjoyed hearing it. Much of the story is in Spanish. The author provides translations and explanations in the back, but I'm not sure how much of it would make sense or that I would understand while reading the story if I didn't already know Spanish myself. But it's a cute book for younger children.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4 year old loves Spanish and so we got this book. It's a wonderful book to teach children about different cultural practices regarding Christmas. Sadly I took only French and pronouncing the words proved a real challenge even with the helpful tips in the book. We had a good laugh at Mommy's attempt to speak Spanish. Regardless a wonderful book.

[Kiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mora is quickly becoming one of my favorite children's books authors. I love the great mix between writing in English and Spanish. The illustrations in her books are normally so fun and beautiful as well. This book was no different, so cute and fun to read. Definitely one we will have under our Christmas tree each year.

[Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the way each page has the phonetic spelling of both the number and whatever each day represents. Lovely version of 12 Days of Christmas, and bright and fun illustrations. I had fun sounding out each word.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good illustrations and lessons in Spanish words. This is an adaptation of the familiar Christmas carol -- Twelve Days of Christmas. In this book, you learn to count in Spanish and a few of the important Christmas symbols in the Latino culture.

[Rogelia Pena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different, fun, and multicultural version of the famous Twelve days of Christmas. This is a bilingual picture book that can be read as early as 1st grade because its pattern enhances comprehension.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is all in Spanish but I still loved it even though I could not read it. Pictures are wonderful. Could have students practice Spanish by translating the words to English.

[Kelly]

Great

[Marissa Elera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pat Mora does Christmas and it is perfection, as usual.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great choices for the days of Christmas, with simple explanations and phonetic pronunciation to make it accessible.

[Hannah]

Cute!

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really colorful and sweet! A secret amiga gives twelve days of gifts for Christmas.

It's definitely a bit of a tongue-twister, and some of the rhythm doesn't work quite right for singing to the traditional tune, but it's close.

The numbers and gifts are all in Spanish (cinco guitarritas, cuatro luminarias, tres tamelitos, dos pastelitos, etc), except for "a piñata in a pine tree." There's a pronunciation guide at the end, but there are also English pronunciations for the numbers and daily items on the page where they're introduced.

I really like this as a counting book because you can always count the right number of items, even when it's not longer the first day that the gift is introduced. Finding them may be harder because they're smaller or in the background, but they're always there.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vibrantly colored illustrations are a “fiesta of color, light, shadow, and detail,” as the illustrator notes, and give this bilingual story a distinctly different holiday appeal, showing how a Latinx family celebrates the twelve days of Christmas (12/25-1/5). The surprise ending provides a delightful twist to the tale, presenting the best gift of all— and revealing the identity of the “secret amiga.” Phonetic spellings of most of the Spanish terms help with pronunciation, and repetition provides plenty of practice to learn the words for numbers and many common objects associated with the holiday. End pages include a glossary and pronunciation guide and notes by the author and illustrator describing their inspirations for the book, plus a cleverly revised arrangement of the traditional Christmas carol with new lyrics based on the story.

[GlitterWater79 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The colors are so glorious in this book. And I love the bilingual and culturally situated focus of it as well. I felt I learned something and know young people will as well. Also loved the author’s and illustrator’s note at the end. If I had one piece of loving feedback it would be that some of the illustrations and perhaps the objects for each of the 12 days could have connected more to other groups within Latinidad in addition to Mexican/Chicanx folks. The author note sets up the possibility of this in some respects with mentions of Cubans, Dominicans, etc. but the drawings are distinctly focused on Mexican culture. Book is still beautiful and will be an annual text for the holidays in my household.

[Dolores Wiarco Dweck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another holiday book that my children (ages 3 and 7) absolutely adored. We've listen to Christmas music during the month of December and the song 12 Days of Christmas just doesn't resonate with us - probably because we don't connect with any gifts mentioned (a partridge in a pear tree? colly birds?).

So this version is so much more culturally relevant for my children and me - piñatas, tamalitos, estrellitas - yes please! My seven-year-old son truly enjoyed himself while reading the book aloud to his hermanita and we all loved the illustrations, colors, and characters depicted.

[Sierra Fresh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, written in English and Spanish, uses the familiar “12 days of Christmas” song to go through common traditions in a spanish Christmas. The back matter section expands on the traditions and allows clarification of the English equivalent word. The illustrations are beautiful and add context clues if the text wasn’t understood. This book could expand upon children’s understanding of different cultures.

[Katrina Tangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good idea and nicely illustrated, but too many syllables in the upper ones,so not really singable even though they include the music at the end. Fine if you’re just reading it though. Also, the baby sister being the amiga giving her the gifts doesn’t really make sense.

[Begad Farid · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the days leading up to Christmas, Mexicans celebrate what's called “Las Posadas”; that's where the events in this book take place. Pat Mora's Latino-themed 12 Days of Christmas is informative, educational, and entertaining as it combines English and Spanish for Latino American children

[Sarah Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it!

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute, great way to struggle with my poor Spanish skills

[Sam Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book and it is a natural mix of English and Spanish. It's the 12 Days of Christmas, but instead of my true love it's my amiga and the things on the list are in Spanish and meant to evoke a Latino Christmas - though to my eyes this is not a pan-Latino experience so much as a Mexican American ... someone who knows better can correct me.

Because of that last point, I am slightly less interested in owning it - not because I dislike things Mexican American, but because I already have a ton, and my future Latin@ children will not be of Mexican descent so I would rather things that claim Latin@ identity to include their own heritage.

THAT SAID, I like this book and think others will like it too.