Dear Primo: A Letter to my Cousin By Duncan Tonatiuh

 

About Book

Title: Dear Primo: A Letter to my Cousin 
Author & Illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Multicultural
Major Book Awards: 2011 Pura Belpre award 
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 7
Appropriate Grade Levels: Kinder to 2nd grade

Summary

This book talks about Charlie and Carlitos, cousins living in two different countries writing letters to one another. Charlie lives in America, while Carltio lives in Mexico. Within their letters, they both tell each other about their days, the foods they eat, the sports they play, and the traditions celebrated in both countries. Although what they write are about different things, they both had the same idea at the same time. And that was to visit each other. 

Teacher Evaluation

This was a pretty interesting book to read. I love the letter format, where it flows from Charlie to Carlitos and vice versa. The illustrations were nice and the colors blends in well together. It was also great to see the incorporation of Spanish and English throughout the book, and English labels next to pictures if the text were using Spanish. I would definitely use this book in my classroom for kindergarten to 2nd grade, because it involves another language and culture from Mexico. This will be a great opportunity for students to get a little taste of the Spanish language and life in Mexico. I can see this book being used in many different types of classrooms and is great for all students. An activity that we can do while reading this book is compare and contrast life in America and life in Mexico, that both cousins have written about. Finding similarities between our language, foods, sports, and celebrations. After reading students will do an activity where they will write a letter to someone else in a different country, sharing American foods, cities, cultures, and holidays. Student will get an option of either writing from America or writing from another country they have great knowledge about.