WIN $150 GIFT VOUCHERS: ALADDIN'S GOLD
Raquel Mackay (Author) Raquel MacKay resides in Iowa City, Iowa with her husband, two young sons, and big white dog. During the day, she teaches English language learners from many cultural backgrounds. She also teaches Spanish at a little school that she started for young kids in her community (La Escuelita). In her free time, she enjoys dancing, going on outdoor adventures with her family, working on projects, reading, and so much more. There is always something to see, learn, or do. And there's always a story to tell. Armando Fonseca (Illustrator) Armando Fonseca studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He works as an illustrator in different media- illustrated books, album books, covers, press work. Armando's work has been exhibited in Mexico and abroad and he has been recognised with a special mention at The Sharjah Children's Reading Festival, the Gold Plate, and La Manzana de Oro at the Bratislava International Biennial of Illustration, an honorable mention at Iberoamerica Ilustra, Illustrators Show of the Bologna Fair 2020, and in the illustration Show of the Shanghai Fair. He created the collective for the CAJA with the illustrators Juan Palomino and Amanda Mijangos. His interests include training and theory of illustration.
‘As a child and adult caregiver snuggle together in a hammock at night, it’s a chance to share various animal sounds, introduced throughout MacKay’s effectively rhyming bilingual phrases … Fonseca’s mixed-media art employs contrasting colours, and incorporates textures of stamping and etching … The result is a vibrantly artsy wind-down book.’ * Publishers Weekly * ‘The patterned rhyming text is calming in its predictability, and the Spanish words and phrases are easily understood in context and from the illustrations … [The] striking print-like artwork shows how the child becomes the animals in her imagination. This is a fun call and response bedtime story for kids who know and love their animals.’ * Youth Services Book Review * ‘Ideal for parent-child bonding in Spanish speaking households, I Hear a Buho is a welcome, memorable, entertaining, and unreservedly recommended pick for family, daycare centre, preschool, elementary school, and community library bilingual (English/Spanish) picture book collections for young children.’ * Midwest Book Review * ‘As with many well-written picture books that appear at first glance to be for the very young, in the hands of an imaginative teacher they can become powerful teaching tools for all ages, and this one has great potential too.’ -- Barbara Braxton ‘It is both a lovely exploration of the bond between parent and child, and the beauty of stillness and quiet appreciation of our natural world. The illustrations are so very striking that they will instantly engage young readers.’ -- Sue Warren * Just So Stories * ‘A brilliant bedtime book for introducing young children to a new language — one to treasure!’ -- Dr Naomi Thompson * Little Library Owl *
