PreS-Gr 2 This bilingual picture book opens with a mother sitting in a chair with her child. She tells her child the different words for their relationship if they were transformed into animals, e.g., horse and foal, fish and fry. Text such as "If I were a sheep, you would be a lamb" appears in both English and Spanish. She also explains that one day the child will go away, and return as whatever that child wishes, but there will "always be us." The simple concept is very loving and encompassing; the pictures are plain but beautiful, with colorful folkloric graphics representing the different animals the mother talks about. Valdivia brilliantly uses shades of red, blue, brown, and black to help tell the story of this mother and child's bond. VERDICT A bilingual Runaway Bunny , this cements family bonds in gentle language and specific, poetic art.Dorinda Brown, High Plains Community Schs., Polk, NE

As a mother holds a child on her lap, she talks about the ways their bond will always be there.In simple, reassuring sentences the mother tells her child how even if their nature were to change, they would still be mother and child: "If I were a sheep, you would be a lamb," or, "If I were a rabbit, you would be a bunny." And even when the inevitable occurs and "one day you…hop away," no matter how both mother and child change, they "would always be mother and child" whenever they're reunited. A wordless sequence sets up the pair's imagined reunion as bird and deer. Clean-lined, stylized artwork with a limited palette set against a white background keeps the mother and child as the central focus. Small, unobtrusive details keep the visual narrative flowing; for example, as the parent and child go from human to sheep, the hair texture is repeated, and a small toy horse appears, foreshadowing the next analogy: "Si yo fuera una yegua, tú serías un potrillo / If I were a horse, you would be a foal." The book was first published in Spanish as Nosotros (2017) in Valdivia's native Chile, and the English translation of this bilingual edition keeps the same simplicity and directness of the original. It is a simple yet thoughtful presentation of the unquestioning acceptance and loving bond attributed to the parent-child relationship.A universal message sweetly and reassuringly expressed. (Picture book. 3-5)