Marimba by Pat Mora, Illustrated by Doug Cushman.

A.Bibliographic Data:
Mora, Pat. Illus. Doug Cushman. 2006. Marimba!: Animales from A to Z. Clarion Books: New York, New York. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-19453-7, ISBN-10: 0-618-19453-3.

B. Plot Summary:
Marimba is a wonderfully rhythmic fun filled story which introduces children to the letters of the alphabet, and zoo animals. Pam explains at the end of the book in her authors note that she chose cognates in her story so that children could witness the spelling and pronunciation similaries among the English and Spanish words. The mischievous singing monkey croons the zoo keepers to sleep and soon after the festivities begin. The letters are shown in alphabetical order and each letter that is introduced is provided on top of the text in a different bold color with font used on the book cover. The Spanish cognate (animal name) that is being mixed in the English text is defined by using the same color as the letter and it is italicized. The animals with enjoy each other's company in unlikely couples like, “Raccoons and rinocerontes rumba with the rattlesnakes”, until they start warning each other that the zookeepers are awake, but are thrilled when the zookeepers join the party.

C. Critical Analysis:
Pat Mora incorporates many cultural markers that make this book authentic. The font used for the title on the cover page and for each letter used in the story is fringed making the letters come alive with movement. The activities that the animals are doing vary, there are some that children can relate to like swimming and eating chocolate cake and other activities, and others that may be new to other students like making a pinata and dancing salsa. Doug Cushmand brings the animals enthusiasm to life through the delighted expressions of all of the animals as they are dancing conga, salsa, and country dance. The way that Pat Mora adds other activities from other cultures like dancing Hullabaloo and country dance help the story deviate from overloading, “Some children's books on the Mexican American experience are a virtual collection of stereotypical symbols, a “cultural parade” of the worst sort, leaning heavily on customs and tradition but having little story or substance.” (Harris).

D. Review Excerpt:
From School Library Journal:
“A monkey playing a marimba soothingly "croons" the zookeepers to sleep and then pops up affably in most of the watercolor illustrations to entertain the various creatures that burst with energy and humor. The starlit sky that appears in most of the illustrations reminds readers that despite the brightness of the foreground, these frolicking animals are celebrating at night. Miniature visual representations of each Spanish word accompany a helpful pronunciation and translation guide. This freshly presented concept book will please children and may tempt librarians to share it at storytime.” By Kirsten Cutler.

E. Connections
The children can be provided with instruments similar to the ones in the story to play along with the story.

An fun filled activity that the children can do is make a small pinata like the otters and ocelotes in the story.