Mama the Alien/Mama la extraterrestre

In this bilingual tale, Sof%C3%ADa's mother, a U.S. resident, isn't the extraterrestrial kind of alien; rather, she's from an unspecified Spanish-speaking country and has a residence card that reads "ALIEN" at the top. While La%C3%ADnez's attempt to make comedy of Sof%C3%ADa's misunderstanding is sometimes overwrought ("I saw Mam%C3%A1's shadow on the wall. She stretched out her arms.... I found the courage to switch on the light"), the portrayal of a family member on a journey toward U.S. citizenship is a crucial story, especially for readers whose citizenship has never been called into question. Younger readers may not know that non-citizens are referred to as aliens, or that the children of non-citizens wrestle with unexpected questions: "Mam%C3%A1 was an alien. Pap%C3%A1 didn't have a card, so he was not an alien. That meant I was half alien," Sof%C3%ADa reasons. By devoting more narrative energy to the idea that Sof%C3%ADa's Mam%C3%A1 comes from outer space, La%C3%ADnez (%C2%A1V%C3%A1manos! Let's Go!) keeps the story from turning sanctimonious or didactic. In warmly colored paintings, Lac%C3%A1mara (Dalia's Wondrous Hair/El cabello maravilloso de Dalia) matches stylized, folk art%E2%80%93style humans with droll alien figures that feature a variety of arms, legs, antennae, and tentacles. Ages 6%E2%80%939. (May)