ALA Booklist

Based on a Mexican American folktale, this entertaining cat-and-mouse story features Little Chico, the youngest of 12 offspring in the Canta mouse family. The Cantas live in a theater, surrounded by the sounds of actors, an orchestra, and audiences. As his family prepares to put on a play, Chico is selected to act as the sun, perched high above the stage. Little Gato-Gato, an orange tabby, also lives in the theater and threatens to put an end to the production and the actors. It is tiny Chico who saves the day by using his "bilingual" talent to frighten the cat away. Spanish words and phrases are interspersed throughout the dialogue, as Mrs. Canta believes in the importance of speaking multiple languages. Uneven and at times awkward, the watercolor and mixed-media illustrations in strong colors vary in size and have a naive aspect. Use this with Aleksei Tolstoy's The Gigantic Turnip (1998) for another folktale in which a small mouse saves the day.

Horn Book

A mouse family living in an old theater decides to put on its own show. The youngest mouse finds a clever way to use both audience participation and bilingualism (of sorts) to frighten off a predatory cat mid-performance. Inspired by a Mexican American folktale, the story has a deliciously slow build. The illustrations are a bit awkwardly rendered.

Kirkus Reviews

A little mouse's foreign-language skills save his family from a cat in this mother-daughter debut. Reworking a Cuban folk tale (available in another version by Antonio Sacre and Alfredo Aguirre as The Barking Mouse, 2003), the authors introduce opera-loving mouse Mrs. Canta and her large family. Mrs. Canta speaks Cricket, Spider and Moth, as well as several human languages, so when the youngest, Chico Canta, echoes her "Dulces sueños, sweet dreams," she exclaims "Bilingual" in approval. But Chico speaks more than just two languages, as he proves when a family production of Three Little Pigs is nearly spoiled by Little Gato-Gato and he leads the audience in a loud chorus of "Bow-wow! Bow-wow! Bow-wow!" that averts the threat. Everyone cheers: "Bilingual!" (Mora explains in an afterword that the term was chosen to "move the story along" and invites adult readers to introduce a more accurate one when appropriate). Seeing the head of the Big Bad Wolf costume hanging from a nail like a trophy in one scene may give viewers a brief turn, but in general, Carling's illustrations capture the well-told story's sweetly spirited tone, with views of tiny mice in colorful costume scampering about and away from a much larger but obviously young ginger kitten. Food for thought for monolingual mouselings—not to mention their parents and teachers. (afterword) (Picture book/folk tale. 5-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Chico Canta, the youngest of 12 mouse siblings, saves the day thanks to his ability to -speak- Dog, proving just how important being multilingual can be. The father-daughter team of Mora and Martinez adapt their story from a Mexican folktale, and Carling-s mixed-media paintings create a cozy Latin American environment for Chico-s family, which lives and performs in an old theater. Despite threats from Little Gato-Gato the cat and Chico-s overall distractibility, the Cantas- performances go off without a hitch. Spanish and Italian words are scattered throughout, giving readers a chance to pick up new words themselves. Ages 4-7. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2 The Cantas, who live in an old theater, love the performing arts and are proud of being bilingual. In fact, Mrs. Canta speaks Spanish, English, Italian, Cricket, Spider, and Moth. After taking her dozen little mice (ninos) to see The Three Little Pigs , they prepare to put on their own play. However, her littlest mouse, Chico Canta, is not always where he is supposed to be, and he has an important role in the performance. In the end, he cleverly saves them from Little Gato-Gato. The illustrations, done in watercolor and mixed media, are colorful and fun to look at against the crisp white backgrounds. The animals' expressions make them endearing to readers. The text is fairly lengthy, making it more suitable for one-on-one reading rather than group sharing. The story celebrates bilingualism and shows how having dual (or multilingual) language skills might just save the day. A good supplemental purchase, especially for libraries providing service to children in bilingual or immersion programs. Maricela Leon-Barrera, San Francisco Public Library