i brought crw to the Queens Museum for its Children’s Book Exhibition in July and found the perfect Child Reads World book from The Philippines! the illustrator, Isabel Roxas had a table with several books she illustrated. i saw Araw sa Palengke and knew I had to have it! unfortunately so did everyone else because there were no more copies to be sold. so i went online and picked it up!
author: May Tobias-Pappa
Illustrator: Isabel Roxas
Dual language edition (English and Tagalog)
– title: “Araw sa Palengke”
– © Adarna House, Inc., 2008
how did i know crw would love this book? well, my little one LOVES to eat food as well as identify the foods one is able to eat! at school crw often plays grocery shopping with classmates and then would demonstrate the shopping experience at home with us! so it was only natural that crw would enjoy reading about shopping as well!
why else did i love this book … how do i count the ways?
1st, it is a dual language book with both English and Tagalog. unfortunately i can’t speak Tagalog but i found a YouTube video from Kababayan Today show featuring a live reading of this book in English by Giselle Töngi and Tagalog by Melody Amit from Green Mango Books. i loved it and so did crw! it was so great to hear both language versions. i realized i was pronouncing bayong and nanay wrong so i was able to correct myself!
2nd: the storyline is so simply wonderful – just a day in the life of going grocery shopping from a little girl’s perspective! why go to the market so early? what are the sights, smells and tastes of the market? is it hard work to go grocery shopping? the book makes you experience all of the above and more! this is definitely a book all families can share!
3rd: the illustrations are awesome! the adorable little girl still asleep while getting ready to spend the day with mom – to – the girl promising her mom she wouldn’t point at things to buy for her – to – the girl not liking the smell of market … and so many more – i can’t name them all!
crw took an immediate attachment to this book and requests for it to be read morning, day and night. we’ve learned a little Tagalog, gained an understanding of the hard work it is to get groceries, but mostly we love sound and bustle of the market as wonderfully demonstrated by the author, May Tobias-Papa, and the illustrator, Isabel Roxas!
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a little bit about The Philippines (coming soon)
resource(s):
- author May Tobias-Papa: Little Wishing Star
- illustrator Isabel Roxas: Studio Roxas
- publisher Adarna House, Inc.: Araw sa Palengke
- reading in both English and Tagalog Kababayan Today: Giselle Töngi (in English) and Melody Amit of Green Mango Books (in Tagalog)
- app: A Day in the Market