Magda y la Pinata Magica / Magda's Pinata Magic

PreS-Gr 2-The irrepressible Magda is back and this time she saves the day for her little brother. When an uncle brings home a special pinata for Gabriel's birthday party, everyone is amazed. It looks just like the birthday boy. The problem is that Gabriel doesn't want anyone to smash it in order to get the treasure trove of candy it contains. Magda comes up with an ingenious way to preserve the pinata while still allowing it to scatter candy to all the children at the party. Chavarria-Chairez and illustrator Vega do a wonderful job of portraying a special event in the life of a Hispanic family. The dramatically colored drawings (oil on canvas) feature beautiful Latino children with brown hair and big brown eyes playing and having fun at the birthday party. Young readers will also enjoy spotting the girl's cat, Tita, who appears on every page. Magda makes an attractive role model for little girls in her compassion and her intelligent approach to problem solving. The Spanish translation is good but sticks a little too closely to the English original to be truly fluent. Recommended for bookstores and public libraries. M.O.B.