Journeys: Read Aloud Unit 5 Book 23 LV 1 Sparky's Bark

by Mimi Chapra

When Lucy comes to the United States for the first time, no one can understand her English, not even Sparky. How will Sparky help her?Cuando Lucy viene a los Estados Unidos por primera vez, nadie... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547073658
• ISBN13: 9780547073651
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 32 Pages
• Age Range: 6 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 1

Customer Reviews

A charming cure for culture shock

Travel to a foreign land is filled with exciting and sometimes scary experiences. For Lucy, the strange new place is Ohio, very far and very different from her home in Latin America. She and her mother fly on a noisy airplane to visit cousins on a Midwest farm, where the fields of corn are nothing like the sweet-smelling streets lined with stands of purple orchids she remembers. She sees many cows but no flamingoes, a duck pond but no lagoon. A rambunctious puppy named Sparky welcomes Lucy to the farm, but Sparky doesn't understand her Spanish words and won't behave for her. Perhaps if she could speak to him in English, Sparky would know what she wanted. Cousin Robby shares a book with pictures that match the words: hats and cats and bats and more. English is very difficult, but Lucy is determined to learn. The story is presented in both English and Spanish on each page. The dual text is well done: both English and Spanish flow with childlike rhyme and poetic imagery. Recommended as a read-aloud story to share with young children, this book could also appeal to older readers learning either English or Spanish. While natural variations in word order occur, the parallels are close enough that a reader who knows only one language could follow the other. Detailed watercolor illustrations enhance the gentle adventure as Lucy adapts to her strange situation. Readers will rejoice on the day that Sparky responds to Lucy's commands, in an ending that is indeed muy simpático--very nice!

"Now I can speak English!"

Written in a Spanish and English format, Sparky's Bark is the tale of a little girl's adventures in a new country, the sights and smells of her homeland left far behind as she travels to the United States on an airplane with her mother to spend the summer in Ohio on her uncle's farm. The first thing Lucy notices is that there are no banana groves, no flamingos and no lagoons in this country, but miles and miles of crops and country roads. Reaching Tio John's farm, mother and daughter are greeted Aunt Dot and Cousin Robby, and, best of all, Robby's dog, Sparky. Sparky jumps with joy to see Lucy, but she quickly realizes that the dog cannot understand anything she says. At their first meal with the family, Lucy is surprised at the rather bland flavors of Aunt Dot's dishes, used to the flavors of Mamita's cooking, the peppery chili's and spicy flavors of her native land. After a brief period of discomfort, Lucy tackles the unfamiliar world in which she finds herself, determined to learn English with her cousin's help. Lucy's goal is for Sparky to understand when she speaks to him. Little by little, Lucy gains command of the unfamiliar language, thrilled when Sparky understands her commands to "sit" and "roll over". Wonderful drawings accompany Lucy's adventures in Ohio, the text in both English and Spanish, a paragraph of each on the pages with corresponding images, facilitating a simple comparison of the two languages and similar words. This story is beautifully written and illustrated for young readers, a charming tale of a little girl and the dog that finally "hears" her words. Luan Gaines/ 2006.