New and Used Spanish and Bilingual Books For Sale

Due to family commitments and my "real job" taking up more and more time, I have decided to close my online Spanish and bilingual children's bookstore. It has been a good run and I have enjoyed talking to parents and recommending books for their children.

Because of this decision I am left with a sizable inventory of new and used Spanish and bilingual books taking up space in my basement. Ideally I would like to sell all (or a large part) of the books to a school or organization that could use them but I am open to any potential buyers (including other booksellers).

The books come from several publishers including Barefoot Books, Chronicle Books and Lectorum. About half of the books are new and the other half are used books that are in fair to good condition. I also have some flash cards and games.

If you or anyone you know is interested in these books, please send me an email and I will send you a list as well as suggested prices.

Tim and Kim, a fun new bilingual book by Kay Linda Nord

I have been reading about a new bilingual book, Tim and Kim / Tim y Kim, by Kay Linda Nord on several blogs and websites recently. I had heard so many good things about it that I was anxious to see what all the hype was about. To my surprise, I got an email from Kay Linda Nord telling me about her book and her reasons for writing it.

The first thing I noticed when I got the book were the colorful and playful illustrations by Nicole Armitage. Even my 11 month old son who has a hard time sitting still for more than 30 seconds sat still and looked at the pictures on each page as I read him the story.

The story follows a brother and sister who are opposite in nearly every way. Tim is tall and Kim is short. Tim likes blue and Kim likes pink. When their pets are scared by a loud noise, Tim and Kim have to work together to bring their pets out of hiding.

The story is told in both English and Mexican Spanish. Having learned Spanish primarily in urban San Diego, California, I often joke that I speak "Mexican". I appreciate having a book written in a style of Spanish and using vocabulary that I am familiar with. At one point the story talks about a swimming pool which I learned was an "alberca" and not a "piscina".

The lesson that I learned from Kim and Tim is that being different is good because it is our differences that allow us to help others.

Tim and Kim is a fun book that will be enjoyed by any family teaching their children Spanish. It is especially good at teaching basic vocabulary and opposites. I am happy to add this book to our library of Spanish and bilingual books and look forward to when my son is old enough to enjoy more than just the colorful illustrations it contains.

Kay Linda Nord grew up in a bilingual home with a Mexican mother and American father. Now a mother, Kay found that all of the book options available for her to read to her son were translated in traditional Spanish. This caused inconsistency between her oral Spanish and the written Spanish she was reading to her son.

Her goal with her first book is to help parents to have options when it comes to teaching their children Spanish. Kay Linda Nord believes that teaching our American children other languages is vital regardless of the language.

For more information about Kay Linda Nord and her book Tim and Kim / Tim y Kim, please visit her website. You can also purchase her book on Amazon.

Utah Bilingual Parenting Support Group

I was recently contacted by a fellow parent here in Utah that was looking for support group for parents raising bilingual children. We both did a little looking around and weren't able to find one... so we are looking at the possibility of starting our own group for Utah parents. We might also consider joining a national group if one exists.

For anyone in Utah who reads this blog...Is this something that you would be interested in joining? If so please leave me a comment or send me an email and I will keep you up to date as we try to get this thing going.

For anyone else...Is there a national support group or do you belong to a local group? I would like to hear from you too.

We welcome any ideas or suggestions on how to get this group going as well as any services or resources would be helpful.

Bilingual Education in Utah

Recently there was a great little story on Fox 13 about the Dual Immersion Academy and bilingual education in Utah.

Click here for part 1.

Click here for part 2.

Schools with Spanish Programs in Utah

I recently came across this list of Utah schools with language program. Many I am already familiar with or have at least heard of, but there are also many that are new to me. There is also a schools that will start language programs next year. While the vast majority of the language programs are Spanish, I was surprised to see that next year there will be schools that offer Mandarin, French, and Navajo.

Click here for the list.

I hope this is helpful for parents in Utah. If anyone has experience with any of these schools, please post a comment.

Pocoyo Halloween Costume

Ever since Karen introduced me to Pocoyo we have been waiting for Halloween so that we could dress Harrison up in a Pocoyo costume. I have been searching the internet looking for a ready made costume, but haven't been able to find one. Luckily my wife Sabrina is pretty crafty and figured out how to make everything from scratch. She even made a candy basket that looks like Pocoyo's radio! I am super happy with how it turned out...take a look!

New Music From Juana Molina

One of my favorite Spanish language musicians, Juana Molina, just released a new album called Un Dia earlier this week. For those not familiar with Juana Molina, she is a popular comedic actress from Argentina turned one-woman-band (if you have watched The Incredibles in Spanish, Juana is the voice of Elastigirl). Molina plays all the instruments and sings herself. Using a looping pedal she records short sections of her music and then plays and records other short sections over the top, creating multilayered and very full sounding songs. Listening to her songs you would think she had a full band supporting her, but when you watch her perform live you will see that it is all her. It is amazing to watch as she layers guitar, vocals, keyboards and other instruments to create beautiful music.

Here is a really good short documentary about Juana: