Con Pollo

August 29, 2022
With assistance from Pollo (“rhymes with Fro-Yo”), television host Fallon and entertainer Lopez take readers on a bilingual jaunt through English and Spanish terms: a total of 10 verbs and nouns representing activities and places. Rendered by debut artist Campos in simple line art highlighted with sunny hues, Pollo is a small, egg-shaped chicken with a bright red comb, a tiny yellow beak, and inexhaustible energy. In a series of spreads, the creators proffer an invitation on the verso, followed by an “OR” that pushes readers to the recto, where it’s made clear that life is much more fun con Pollo. “Do you want to go the beach?” reads one spread, showing a lonely pail and shovel stuck in the sand, or “Go to la playa con Pollo?” as the fowl confidently surfs a gnarly wave. Following a range of activities, even Pollo is ready to hit the hay—but a new addition is eager to join for a re-read in a book highlighting “so many things to do/ that you don’t have to alone.” It’s a balance of pedagogy and pure visual fun, smartly gauged for budding curiosities and short attention spans. English-to-Spanish translations, with pronunciations, conclude. Ages 2–5.

Starred review from November 1, 2022

PreS-K-Pollo is a small white chicken who just likes to play. And play, and play, and play-all day! The reader is invited to come along "con (with) Pollo," in both English and Spanish. Unlike many bilingual titles, which offer word-for-word translation of the English text in Spanish, Fallon and Lopez take a more creative approach. A series of questions are asked in English and reiterated in Spanglish. "Do you want to go to the beach? OR Go to la playa con pollo? Do you want to go skateboarding? OR Patinar con Pollo?" It's a busy day for Pollo, going to school, to the library, the toy store, building, flying, and looking at the stars. Young readers will want to engage. Simple, bold, colorful illustrations, reminiscent in style of Peep and the Big Wide World, are perfectly suited to grab and hold the attention of the intended audience. An illustrated glossary of translated words in the back matter serves as extra scaffolding for the language learning in the story and will assist non-Spanish-speaking adults with pronunciation. VERDICT A fun way to introduce Spanish vocabulary to young readers, with a character and formula that are worthy of additional titles. An excellent purchase for bilingual and general picture book collections.-Jennifer Noonan

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2022
Talk-show host Fallon and movie and pop star Lopez partner up to serve an introductory slice of whimsical Spanish learning. "This is Pollo. She wants to play." In the middle of the page, a cute white blob of a chicken--with dots for eyes with blush spots beneath them, stubby wings and legs, an unkempt comb on top--chirps a bright "�Hola!" Leveraging full-color backgrounds with a distinct absence of any distracting details, Campos keeps the artwork centered solely on Pollo and whatever item she needs to play, play, play. Colorful visual simplicity here aims to capture younger readers' attention, with great success. So, how does Pollo play? Pollo goes to la playa, plays a rousing game of f�tbol, visits la biblioteca, and gets toys from la tienda. In one amusing scene, Pollo even hops on a plane to volar. Each scenario sets the scene with an English sentence before guiding readers toward a Spanglish translation. Fallon and Lopez establish this rhythm and pace early on and keep it intact throughout the book with little variation. The highlighted Spanish translations don't quite follow a logical progression--sometimes, just the noun is presented in Spanish ("Go to la playa con Pollo?"); sometimes it's a verb ("Bailar con Pollo?"). Still, they help bring to life Pollo's delightful play sessions, and that in itself proves enough. A fluffy, uber-adorable, bite-sized introducci�n al espa�ol. (glossary) (Picture book. 2-6)

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July 19, 2024
Preschool-Kindergarten Fallon and Lopez team up in this book to bring us a sweet story about Pollo, a chicken who wants to play all day. Readers are invited along on a series of activities that are proposed in both English and Spanish. For instance, "Do you want to go to the beach? OR // Go to la playa con Pollo?" Each new suggestion is cheerfully presented on a double-page spread, showing the plucky chicken dancing, skateboarding, playing soccer, and going to the library before piloting a plane and stargazing. It's a packed itinerary and by the end of the day, Pollo is pooped. Luckily, newly hatched Pollito is ready to take over. The book's Spanish is simple and great for introducing new vocabulary or reinforcing the Spanish spoken at home. There is a helpful illustrated glossary of the Spanish words with pronunciations. The full-page illustrations are simple and sweet, using bold outlines and colors that make Pollo stand out on the page--just imagine Hello Kitty as a chicken. A fun bilingual read-aloud.

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