Dear Primo: A Letter To My Cousin (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was about two young boys, cousins, who correspond back and forth by letter about the activities and lifestyle that they are a part of. One cousin lives in Mexico while the other lives in a city in the United States. This story would make an excellent choice to bring the idea of diversity into the classroom. The discussion of similarities and differences between Mexican and American culture are very child-friendly and easy to understand. The author also included Spanish terms for animals, geographic features, and many other everyday objects that are always next to a picture of that object. This would make the book a great choice to bring introduce/reinforce Spanish into a classroo, thus further developing students concept of diversity. Text-to-Text & Text-to-Self:While reading the book Dear Primo: A letter to My Cousin, by Duncan Tonatiuh, I made both a text-to-text and text-to-self connection. In the book, two young cousins, one who lives in the United States and one who lives in Mexico are pen pals. They write to each other about where they live, their hobbies, food, and traditions. My text-to-text connection was that this book reminded me of Delphine in the book P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Garcia-Williams. Delphine also has a family pen pal that she frequently writes to, her mother, who lives on the opposite coast in the U.S. My text-to-self connection is that I too have a pen pal; I write letters to my nephew who lives in Illinois. I will definitely use this book in my future classroom because it does an excellent job of explaining the Mexican and American cultures. I believe that many students will connect with this book too!
What do You think about Dear Primo: A Letter To My Cousin (2010)?
A day in the life of two cousins - one in Mexico one in the U.S. in a letter format.
—Kathryn
Good choice for kids who grow up on both sides of the border.
—bananas
I loved the Mayan-style illustrations of modern life!
—brennan323
