The Subway Sparrow (Sunburst Book)

I got this book for my 17 month old who loves the subway. It's a gorgeously written story that slips in and out of three languages without explanation/translation of the Spanish or Polish. I love that because it reflects our lived experiences in our city while also telling a lovely story of how we work together across seeming differences. The illustrations are lovely too. It's a perfect book for any toddlers who love stories about birds, collaboration, or the subway!

I love the idea behind the book. And the illustrations are very sweet. It would have been so simple to have included a little translation for the phrases that are in different languages - maybe just small print at the bottom of the page, that would include phonemic information on how to say the phrases correctly. The book is just confusing - the adult trying to read it to the child is butchering the phrases because we have no idea how to pronounce them, which feels highly disrespectful, and the child is saying "What does that mean?" and the adult reading it to them has no idea.

My preschooler loves the book. I have a hard time reading it with the Spanish and Polish parts but do my best!

I love the illustration.

SUBWAY SPARROW by Leyla Torres is a 30-page large format children's book. Every page contains an illustration, and most of the illustrations are panoramas, going from the extreme left to the extreme right. The first picture shows a sparrow finding its way into a subway station in New York City. The picture uses a dramatic angle, where the viewer is situated up in the air, just beyond the bird, who is perching on a ledge. Down below, we see a subway picking up passengers. The artist did a good job at depicting the silvery sheen of the metal of the subway. The remaining pictures take place inside of a subway car, or in the subway station, except for the very last picture.The writing goes like this:"At the Atlantic Avenue station in Brooklyn, a sparrow flew into a subway car on the D train. (NEXT PAGE) Little bird, what are you doing down here? (NEXT PAGE) With a rumble, the train begain to move. (NEXT PAGE) It's okay, it's okay--don't be afraid. I want to help you. (NEXT PAGE) Mister, maybe you can catch him with your hat. Si, con mi sombrero tal vez lo atajemos."After the Spanish speaking man tries to catch the bird with his hat, a Spanish speaking boy is asked to help, but the boy warns the other people that he might hurt the bird by accident. Then, a Polish woman tries to catch the bird. She says, "Nie dotykaj go parasolem." The book provides a tranlation to the woman's Polish, and the book adds, "No, forget the umbrella--it might hurt him.' Finally, another Spanish speaking woman comes along, and safely ensnares the bird with a colorful scarf.The story has a happy ending. What is remarkable about the book is its depiction of New York City's melting pot of persons who speak Spanish and Polish. (Hopefully, the author will publish another book about New Yorkers with some folks speaking a bit of Italian.) The depiction of immigant-types, in this book, is done effortlessly, and there is no suggestion whatsoever that a goal of the book is to teach "tolerance" to children. The effortless and natural depiction of New York City's melting pot of immigrants, the charm of the story, and the dramatic angles found in the illustrations, wins this book at least FIVE STARS.