Great to educate children about the cultures of our wold. This book will get kids creative juices flowing as they try to make their own Cinco De Mayo crafts.

“Cinco de Mayo” is a great book for children because it celebrates Mexican history and its culture. This informational book comprises many interesting facts about this well-known holiday for children to learn. The language is descriptive, yet simple for students to read and comprehend. Many text features are included, specifically bolded vocabulary words. Words such as culture, custom, heritage, mariachi, and sombrero have been bolded throughout the book and included in a glossary at the end. The book includes simple academic language words children can easily become familiar with. Similarly, the photographs incorporate many of the traditional parades that occur on this day. Readers can see the long dresses and customary outfits the parade marchers wear. I think the big message of this story is to inform readers about the holiday of Cinco de Mayo, its meaning, and its traditions. ( )

Overall, I felt this was a solid informational text that would add culture to a classroom library. One of the things that I enjoyed about this book is the setup used by the author. She included various important topics about the holiday such as the battle between Mexico and France and how Cinco de Mayo came into origination. I also enjoyed her inclusion of an internet site about Cinco de Mayo that would expand the readers’ knowledge. Secondly, I felt that the illustrations included in the book were appropriate for the text. The author included pictures of past and present to bring the text full circle. One of my favorite images was the painting from the battle between Mexico and France and the image of people celebrating the holiday. The third thing I enjoyed was the interesting facts shared once every couple pages. This wasn’t the general text of the story but facts in a separate place on the page that told a more unique fact instead of general facts about Cinco de Mayo. In the end, I felt the main message of this book was to explain to readers the background and history of Cinco de Mayo.

Photographs, glossary, additional resources suggested.