Ve Lo Que Dices / See What You Say - (Charlesbridge Bilingual Books) by Nancy Maria Grande Tabor (Paperback)

About the Book

Demonstrates the different ways people look at the same situations by presenting contrasting idiomatic expressions in both English and Spanish. Example: Someone important is a "big wheel" in English but a "fat fish" in Spanish.

Book Synopsis

In this entertaining, bilingual exploration of language, children are introduced to a second language and get a glimpse of another culture. VE LO QUE DICES/SEE WHAT YOU SAY explores the ways two different cultures view their own languages through familiar idioms. Sometimes the words we use have a different meaning from what we say. For instance, if a person becomes hasty and does things out of order, in English we say he has put the cart before the horse. In Spanish he is starting to build the house at the roof. Although they mean the same thing, the literal sense of these phrases is quite different. In VE LO QUE DICES/SEE WHAT YOU SAY, these contrasting expressions become charming and vivid vignettes.

Nancy María Grande Tabor's signature cut paper illustrations are remarkable in their three-dimensional quality and light-hearted presentation of some very off-the-wall phrases. Children and adults alike will have a great time guessing what idiom each illustration represents.

About the Author

Nancy Maria Grande Tabor is the author of several bilingual books for Charlesbridge, including EL GUSTO DEL MERCADO MEXICANO/A TASTE OF THE MEXICAN MARKET, SOMOS UN ARCOS IRIS/WE ARE A RAINBOW, CINCUENTA EN LA CEBRA/FIFTY ON THE ZEBRA, and ALBERTINA ANDA ARRIBA/ALBERTINA GOES UP. Nancy is a bilingual teacher in Sonoma, California. She often speaks at schools, libraries, and conferences to emphasize the need for language-rich books in Spanish. She stresses the importance of understanding other cultures and the reflection of culture through literature in both her presentations and her books.