La provisión de besos de Zea. (Zea’s Box of Kisses)

Reviewed by Ann Welton, Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma, WA -- Críticas, 8/15/2008

Gay, Michel
tr. by Anna Col-Vinent. illus. by author. Spain: Corimbo, dist. by Lectorum. 2008. unpaged. ISBN 978-84-8470-304-4. $18.95.

K-Gr 2– The female counterpart to Gay’s character Zee, little Zea is an equally adorable, large headed baby zebra.  In this sequel to Zea (Corimbo, 2000), the zebra is heading off to summer camp, and she is not thrilled. It has dawned on her that her parents will not be there everyday to kiss her goodnight. Fortunately, her folks make her a box of kisses—scraps of paper on which they have planted kisses. Assured that she has enough kisses to last the entire time she is at camp, Zea boards the train. It’s a wrench when the train pulls away, and Zea can’t wait until bedtime to use some of those kisses. Their magic works, but as she’s falling asleep, she hears another little zebra crying.  So she decides to share her kisses with her—and then has to satisfy requests from most of the other campers on the train. By the time she arrives at camp, the box is empty but Zea has enough friends to get her through her sojourn. Gay’s ink and watercolor wash illustrations are expressive and humorous, and his text is a pattern of austere understatement and wry humor. Children will relate to Zea and understand the healing power of friendship.  An excellent addition to libraries serving Hispanic populations, this is good for home use, as well. 

Order this title