ALA Booklist (Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 1996)

A rhyming text weaves together numbers from 1 to 10 in English and Spanish as two sisters gather presents for Mama's birthday from a Mexican market. Similar to her artwork in Barbara M. Joosse's Mama, Do You Love Me? (1991), Lavallee's luminous watercolors feature monumental figures painted in a bold and reductive style. The deceptively simple design is a delight to the eye as the illustrations vibrantly dance with the text in a count of the presents collected. Robust and radiant, this counting book effectively celebrates the gift of being bilingual. (Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1996)

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1996)

Two girls search a Mexican market for gifts for their mother's birthday in this counting book in both English and Spanish. As the sisters add to their purchases, the reader is introduced to a new number: 'Cinco, five / Puppets dance as if alive.' Cheerful, stylized paintings in muted reds, blues, and yellows depict designs from Mexican art and use pattern to highlight the number sequence.

Kirkus Reviews

Another bilingual rhyme from Mora (Listen to the Desert/Oye al Desierto, 1994, etc.), this one a simple one-to-ten counting book featuring two little girls in a Mexican market who are buying birthday presents for their mother. Repetition—and a growing sense of excitement—is built in as the numbers advance; the girls take a break to rest with their many purchases while the life of the plaza swirls by, providing opportunities to count folk dancers, park benches, mariachi musicians, and canopied, flower-bedecked balconies. The book concludes with an author's note and a helpful pronunciation guide. The subdued, gray-green cover and endpapers with their Aztec designs give no hint of the blazing red, orange, pink, blue, and purple within. The dark-eyed, round-cheeked visages of Lavallee's Mexicans are indistinguishable from those of her Inuit characters in Barbara M. Joose's Mama, Do You Love Me? (1991), but in art this stylized, it probably doesn't matter. (Picture book. 3-6)"

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1--Two sisters romp through a market in Mexico while selecting birthday gifts for their mother. The simple rhyming text pairs the Spanish and English numerals 1-10: "Uno one/ We'll buy Mama a sun/ dos two/ Two doves that say coo-coo..." A Spanish pronunciation guide is included. The beautiful watercolor illustrations do an excellent job of capturing the girls' excitement and of portraying the varied merchandise in the market. However, the heavy, awkward use of shadowing makes the characters' faces unattractive, thus detracting from the otherwise carefree artwork. Moreover, the items to be counted (three bells, six castanets) are often difficult to discern within the scenes, diminishing the title's serviceability as a counting book. Despite these weaknesses, this is a useful tool for teaching children how to count to 10 in Spanish.--Denise E. Agosto, Midland County Public Library, TX