Pepita Talks Twice/Pepita Habla Dos Veces

by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman, Alex Pardo DeLange (Illustrator)

This colorfully illustrated picture book charmingly explores the joys and benefits of bilingualism. Capturing the beauty and flavor of biculturalism, this story of a little girl at the crossroads of the English and Spanish-speaking worlds will delight children of all backgrounds who enjoy multicultural identities.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens

30 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Veronica Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this story can relate to many children in our classrooms. As a bilingual person, you have to go through what pepita goes through.

[zabarj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pepita Talks Twice by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman.
Reading Level: M
Grade: 3-5
Age: 8-10
Summary:This colorfully illustrated picture book charmingly explores the joys and benefits of bilingualism. Capturing the beauty and flavor of biculturalism, this story of a little girl at the crossroads of the English and Spanish-speaking worlds will delight children of all backgrounds who enjoy multicultural identities.

Realistic Fiction is the genre for this narrative work. Lachtman captures the crossroads Pepita must endure which help her realize that her knowledge of two languages is a blessing, not a curse. The reader takes a journey through Pepita day. It is throughout her day that one is able to see that Pepita's ability is a wonderful tool, even before Pepita realizes it to be true. Character development is evident towards the end of the story when Pepita is playing with Lobo (or Wolf). Lobo is put in dangers way, but Pepita uses Spanish to save her beloved pet.

[Alexis]

AR test completed.

[Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pepita Talks Twice is a great book that explores the wonders of bilingualism. The book shows coherence from beginning to end. Pepita starts her story by talking about how she is bilingual in both Spanish and English. She has a dog named lobo (wolf in english) whom she loves teaching tricks to. One day, she decides she wants to get home early because she wants to teach lobo a new trick, but because many people in her neighborhood know she is bilingual, they ask her for help whenever they see her. Unfortunately, her brother got home before her and taught lobo the trick first. She got mad that he taught lobo the trick first since so many people asked for her help translating on her way home. This made her want to stop speaking Spanish, until she realized that she was not able to ask for her favorite food, teach lobo tricks or sing with her friends in Spanish any longer. At the end Pepita realizes the importance and beauty of being bilingual so she continues to speak both English and spanish. The plot is very clear. Pepita's brother taught lobo the trick before her which made her not want to speak Spanish anymore. The illustrations are really colorful and vivid and correlated well with the text. As the text describes things, we can clearly see them in the illustrations. This book serves to me as a mirror because I’m bilingual in both Spanish and English too. Since I was small, I have always translated for my parents. It was hard, but I loved helping them out. For me, Pepita is a relatable character because I sometimes go through some of those things as well where I want to do stuff, but have to wait because someone else needs me. Overall, I found this book really great and appropriate for children. It can serve as a mirror for many bilingual students and as a window for others to see what being bilingual looks like.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I have read in Spanish. Even though it is a children's book, there were quite a few words that I didn't know. There are also a lot of tenses used that I haven't learned yet, but I am beginning to partially understand some of those even though I haven't covered them yet in my class. It is also fun to see things that I have recently learned, like affirmative commands, and recognize what those are! All in all, I am encouraged...and I am convinced that continuing to read some each day will help me progress in my understand of the language much faster than if I just did the course work. Now I need a new book to read...any recommendations? :-)

[Usagi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute story that touches on ideas about identity, difference, and heritage. The themes are ones young bilingual and/or first generation readers can identify with. It also offers a great opportunity for exposure to seeing/reading/hearing a second language through the use of the bilingual storytelling.
My only gripe with this story is the point made about names. While, yes, a name may translate to something in another language , choosing to speak another language (or not to) doesn't change your name.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pepita speaks English and Spanish and everyone asks her to interpret in English and Spanish. Pepita is tired of being to go between and wants to take a days off until she learns how wonderful it really is to be able to speak more than one language. Great for support of bilingual education.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows the benefits of speaking two languages. Written in both Spanish and English. Could use this book to celebrate different cultures. Would be great to start a class discussion on cultures, languages or differences. 2nd grade and up.

[Donna Bausch]

This is a cute book about a girl who speaks two languages. She decides one day that she is only going to speak English. Then when she encounters problems and hasn't thought about how she will work through them without her second language, she decides it is best to be able to speak both languages.

[Zeinab Haj Hasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read it in garde 3 love it

[Franklyn Kornn]

This is a great multicultural book. this book is good to use when learning about the Hispanic culture and is a great book share book.