This story portrays the daily life of a young bilingual girl with two sets of grandparents that hail from different cultural backgrounds. One set of grandparents is Mexican-American, while the other set is European-American. The young protagonist of this story converses with and translates the dialogue of her Abuelito and Abuelita either through her responses or as indicated in the warm and gentle watercolor illustrations. There is much emphasis on comparing and contrasting both pairs of grandparents in their use of language and their choices for activities (as Grandma and Grandpa take her to the pier and Abuelita and Abuelito take her to the circus), yet the two sets are always depicted as mutually enhancing elements in this girl's life. The concluding scene of the novel during her birthday is an occasion for all four grandparents to come together in celebration, delighting her with a coordinated gift. This story is effective to use with students when conveying a message of cultural diversity and the value of one's extended family. There is little to no emphasis on the whereabouts of her parents during the weekends, yet her time spent with either pair of grandparents is shown to be full of joyful affirmation of her heritage.

I Love Saturdays y domingos is a children’s book by Alma Flor Ada that centers around a young girl and how she spends her weekends. On Saturdays, the narrator spends the day with her European-American grandparents, and on Sundays, she spends the day with her Mexican-American grandparents. Through the author’s amazing use of juxtaposition, the audience gets to experience the both cultures and see how the two cultures are both similar and different as they follow the narrator and her grandparents to the circus and pier and learn about the history of the grandparents. As a literacy teacher, I would use this text to foster a curiosity about family backgrounds and history. It also incorporates Spanish in a way that is authentic. It is easy to discern the meaning of words through context clues and the author’s juxtaposition, and since the author is Spanish speaking, it adds to the authenticity of the language usage. The illustrator also does a really nice job of matching the images to the ideas that the author is trying to convey. I think students would respond well to this text because it affirms the importance of heritage and will encourage students to learn more about themselves. For the purpose of exploring various family units, this text is really great because it affirms both heritages of a multiracial child and her family.

Multicultural book for children from families with different cultures great book for children who speak spanish due to its bilingual text.

I liked the integration of Spanish words into the text and how the pages alternated back and forth between the child spending time with her two sets of grandparents.

The part of this book that made me uncomfortable were the few pages featuring the circus. The little girl talked about how she loved seeing the mama and baby elephant, the giraffes, lions and tigers in the live circus. When we reached this part in the story it provided a great opportunity to explain to my daughter why circuses create a very unnatural and cruel life for animals. It saddens me to read so many picture books where joy is expressed at seeing captured wild animals imprisoned in zoos and circuses.

I love Saturdays y Domingos/ Alma Flor Ada/ 2002
Genre: fiction
Format: picture book
Plot Summary: A young girl enjoys the similarities and the differences between her English-speaking and Spanish-speaking grandparents.
Considerations: no red flags
Review Citation: Ayres, Annie. BookList, Feb 1, 2002
Selection Source: Novelist
Recommended age: 4-6

I read/listened to 'I love Saturdays y Domingos on Tumblebooks.com and was thoroughly impressed with how the author seamlessly integrated two distinctly different cultures. Each culture was accurately represented and theme of the story was definitely family. You could feel the love the main character had for both sets of her grandparents and the storyline made you want to keep reading to see which adventure or activity they would do together next. 'I Love Saturdays y Domigos' would be a must read in the early elementary grades but could also be effectively used with older children who travel between cultures when visiting family and friends. In my opinion, the most precious place to read 'I Love Saturdays y Domingos' would be snuggled up on your grandparents lap!

Grade/interest level: Primary (1st-3rd grade)
Reading level: Lexile, 530L
Genre: Picture Book, Multicultural (Spanish words/phrases), Realistic Fiction

Main Characters: The granddaughter, Grandma, Grandpa, Abuelito, Abuelita
Setting: The home of Grandma and Grandpa and the home of Abuelito y Abuelita
POV: 1st Person from the granddaughter


This story is told from the viewpoint of a young girl of mixed descent. Her father’s parents are white, English speakers. Her mother’s parents are Spanish-speaking Latinos. The story is centered on how the young girl spends her weekends. Saturdays she spends with her paternal grandparents. Domingos (Sundays) she spends with her maternal grandparents. The book incorporates Spanish when the girl is with her abuelito and abuelita. The Spanish used is basic Spanish such as Como estas? (How are you?), Vamos (Let’s go), and Te gustan? (Do you like them?), amongst other common phrases. If the reader is not a Spanish speaker, inferring skills are required to understand the Spanish and a translator may be useful. The book follows the events that happen throughout the young girl’s weekend. At her grandparents house, she eats pancakes for breakfast, and with her abuelita she eats huevos rancheros. The weekends include similar activities done with each set of grandparents. For example, with her grandpa she watches the colorful fish in his aquarium. With her abuelito she goes to the pier at the beach and watches the sea life in the water. The book ends with the birthday festitivies of the young girl. Her grandparents get her a beautiful doll and her abuelito made her a dollhouse. Her two sets of grandparents worked together to give her a wonderful birthday surprise. At the end of the book, they sing both Happy Birthday and Las Mananitas, the traditional Mexican song for birthdays. The final illustrations show the combining of the two families and their traditions.

This is a book that I had used a couple of years ago for a unit I had planned for a bilingual endorsement course. The unit was on different types of families, and should I have the opportunity to teach a unit on this topic, I would love to use this book again as I think it fits wonderfully into that theme. I would also use this book to discuss culture, language, and identity. I think this book is wonderful for any students, but particularly Latino students. Even if a student is completely Latino, I think it is easy to relate to this young girl who merges two different cultures that make up her identity. All of my students will be people who live in the United States, and I think with that comes the challenge of finding the balance between the new culture and their home culture. This is a book I will definitely look forward to using should I teach in the primary grades.

* Book Summary
I love Saturdays y Domingos is about a little girl with a multiracial background. On Saturdays, she visits her grandparents, who come from a European-American background, and on Sundays ( Domingos) she spends time with her abuelos, who are Mexican-American. She compares how both of sets of grandparents are the different yet the same.

*awards
None
* Grade Level/ Interest level
2-3rd

* Appropriate Classroom Use
I would use this book in my classroom when discussing cultural diversity.

*Student Who Might Benefit From Reading
All students/Multiracial students/ Bilingual students

* Small Group Use
I would use this book if we are learning about different cultures and have the students translate the words that are in Spanish, and share a summary of the book with the class

* Whole Class Use
This could be a good book to read if learning about other cultures and trying to introduce how some principles are the same no matter where we come from.

*Related Book In Genre
Abuela

*Multimedia Connections
N/A

This book is written for children ages 5 to 8. The author describes a little girl's weekend activities with her two different sets of grandparents--comparing the Mexican-American culture with a traditional European culture. Spanish dialogue is used between the little girl and her Abuelito y Abuelita. For non-Spanish speaking readers, the text can be inferred from the same English dialogue on the previous page. The illustrations are warm and inviting, with many opportunities for children to make connections to their own lives.

A little girl compares and contrasts her two different bilingual families. She a set of English speaking grandparents and a set of Spanish speaking grandparents. Although they were different, the girl associates with both sides of her family. This book is a great relation between some students who have bilingual families.
Good read for Pre-K to 1st grade

This book does an amazing job at showing how even though the different sides of your family can have big differences in their culture and how they live, they still love you the same and you can have fun with both. I really enjoyed how this book compared the different cultures between our main character's grandparents. The main character had a good time with both of her grandparents regardless of what they did or the differences in their culture. I also really enjoyed how this book integrated Spanish into the text so we, as readers, could see the differences between the main character's grandparents and get a more accurate representation of what it is like spending time with them. This book is definitely one that I will be integrating into my future classroom.

Great book to have in the classroom, especially if you have Spanish speaking students. Brings in other cultures to the classroom.