Storytime Bilingüe featuring “El camioncito azul”

Mateo absolutely loves trucks. In fact, one of his first "words" was "vroom vroom," as he crawled around the house, pushing one of his favorite toy trucks. Since his big sister is only two years older, he inherited most of her toys, so there is always an assortment of toys on the lower levels of the bookshelf for the kids to choose from. Some are baby dolls, or toys that could be considered "girly," but most are gender-neutral like musical instruments, play food, and puzzles. If Maya is playing with her baby dolls or her doll house, Mateo is happy to play with her. But when I set him loose just to play on his own, he always gravitates directly to his toy trucks, tractors, and cars.

So it is no surprise that the Spanish translation of the classic Little Blue Truck is Mateo's favorite book. Now that he is tall enough to select books for himself from the bookshelf, that one is the first one he grabs. He clutched it tightly, toddles over to the rug, sits himself down and often is completely content to look at the pictures himself, reading it by saying "vroom vroom" at the images of the trucks on each page and "mooooo" when he sees the cow.

Sometimes, he wants to be read to, so he pats the mat next to him and calls out "Mama!" That's my cue to come over, pull him onto my lap and read it for the hundredth time. But I love his love of books, so I always do.

This book tells the sweetest tale of friendship, and teaches the lesson that even if you are small, you can still succeed when friends work together for the greater good.

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