Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Pelé, King of Soccer/Pelé, el rey del fútbol



Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I love the encouragement to explore more non-fiction. I am thankful that she has this challenge because I know I have read more nonfiction texts as a result.

This is my first post for 2016. The past two years I participated and have read around 80 nonfiction picture books each time. This year my goal is 100.

Pelé, King of Soccer/Pelé, el rey del fútbol 
written by Monica Brown/illustrated by Rudy Guitérrez

This book shares the life and career of Pelé. He is a legend. Many of my students love soccer so I'm happy to have this book for them to learn about this amazing athlete. The illustrations are vibrant and energetic. The text is exciting and informative at the same time. The text is also bilingual which is something I love. We have students in our school with two or more languages represented at home and I always enjoy having books that reinforce bilingualism and show that it's a positive thing and is something to celebrate. This is an older title, 2009, but I was happy to discover it.

This book will pair well with a few fiction picture books that I already use in my classes: 

The Sock Thief written by Ana Crespo/illustrated by Nana Gonzalez

Soccer Star written by Mina Javaherbin/illustrated by Renato Alarcão

9 comments:

  1. Great collection, Crystal! Thanks for putting those together.

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  2. I am always amazed by the power of soccer to bring kids to together. It's such an accessible sport, and it seems able to cross all sorts of linguistic and cultural barriers in such a fun and healthy way. Thanks for sharing this!

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  3. Thanks for telling about the Pele book. He is a legend for sure! I'm glad to know about it. I just got The Sock Thief from the library, & have read Soccer Star, another good book for those kids who play. Thanks, Crystal!

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  4. Crystal, thanks for using The Sock Thief in your classroom - I hope your kids enjoy it - and thanks for including it in this post. You may find some activities for download and audio files for the Portuguese words on my website at www.anacrespobooks.com. Have a great week! Ana

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  5. I just read the Pele book this week! Does the bilingual aspect of it matter to you--do you read in both languages to your class? Just one?

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    1. I generally read the bilingual books in English, but often read at least a page in Spanish if that is the other language. I have students who speak Spanish, but I only took conversational Spanish and beginning Spanish, so I am not fabulous at reading it. I know some students do check out the bilingual books for the purpose of having a parent or grandparent read it in their first language rather than English.

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  6. Love this pairing and review! My students are obsessed with soccer, so this would be a great one for me to get.

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  7. Wow! I can imagine this being so popular! My class a few years ago loved Soccer Star! Soccer is so popular with children. This book looks really bright and engaging.

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  8. I so love the look of Pele! These two titles will definitely be added to my multicultural PBB text-set. :)

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