Secreto de familia. (Family Secret)

By staff -- Críticas, 9/15/2006

K-Gr 2–Adults and children will laugh out loud with this brief title by this year’s Hans Christian Andersen Award finalist. “I have a secret,” confesses the troubled young protagonist in the first page. “My mother is actually a porcupine.” As the girl explains, one day she woke up earlier than usual and discovered a scary-looking woman fixing breakfast—her hair sticking up in all directions and her puffy eyes barely open. It was her mother. The girl is horrified and ashamed by her discovery; so much so that she hides it from her best friend. Why tell this dirty secret to her friend? she thinks. She wouldn’t understand it anyway because her family “is normal”. Eventually, the young protagonist learns that the grass in not always greener on the other side. Isol beautifully explores that childhood sentiment that our friends’s families are better than ours. The short sentences, simple vocabulary, and humorous illustrations make this title ideal for younger readers. The expressive characters, drawn in black ink with thick strokes of watercolor, beautifully compliment the text. Highly recommended for all libraries and bookstores.—Ximena Diego, Críticas.