  | Interpreter Author: Abtahi, Olivia | |
| Price: $23.78 | ||
Summary:
Some kids have one job: to be a kid! Cecilia has two. When she isn't on the soccer field scoring goals, she's accompanying her parents to all kinds of grown-up places, like the DMV, the accountant's office, and the auto shop. She helps them translate from Spanish to English and from English to Spanish. Sometimes Cecilia's second job is so much responsibility, it feels like she'll split in two!
| Illustrator: | Arnaldo, Monica |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (11/15/24)
Booklist (+) (12/01/25)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/12/24)
The Hornbook (00/03/25)
Full Text Reviews:
Other - 10/14/2024 "Some kids had one job: to be a kid. Cecilia worked two." When not playing soccer or engaging in kid life, Cecilia serves as an interpreter between her Spanish-speaking parents and their English-speaking community. Abtahi (Twin Flames), making a well-developed picture book debut, tracks the back-and-forth in text bubbles-blue for English and orange for Spanish-as Cecilia is called in "to all kinds of grown-up places. Places her classmates had never been." On one page, she translates a doctor’s orders for her gravely sick baby sister; on another, she omits a hairdresser’s unkind remark about her mother’s hair. Finally, asked at a parent-teacher conference how she’s doing, Cecilia reflects on her load, communicating how interpreting is impacting her day-to-day. Employing differing uniforms-striped duds for kid activities and a too-big green business suit for translation work-lively watercolor and pencil crayon illustrations from Arnaldo (The Museum of Very Bad Smells) show the strain of Cecilia’s moving back and forth, until supportive changes help her become a kid who’s happy to help, "...just not all the time." Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Spanish edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 4-8. Author’s agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. Illustrator’s agent: Alexandra Levick, Writers House. (Jan.) - Copyright 2024
Booklist - 12/01/2024 *Starred Review* Cecilia has two jobs. One as a kid who loves to play soccer, and another as an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents. The interpreter job is special: Cecilia goes to some grown-up places that her friends have never been, like the DMV and the accountant. But it comes with a lot of responsibility, and Cecilia sometimes mixes up her jobs and really misses playing with her friends. In many ways, Cecilia’s world is split in two, as she bounces between being a kid and being an ad hoc interpreter, and the speech balloons echo that split: English dialogue appears in blue, while Spanish is in peach. Abtahi's story about circumstances of bilingual family life that sometimes force children into these adult roles is engagingly rendered in Arnaldo’s colored pencil and watercolor drawings that both reflect the silliness of the situation and neatly show how overwhelmed Cecilia becomes: carrying a briefcase and drinking coffee to combat the exhaustion of working overtime, she's often dressed in an oversized suit, which gets outlandishly bigger the more overwhelmed she feels. In addition to nicely balancing an important topic with lighthearted comedy, the book also offers a solution of teamwork that is both thoughtful and respectful to the entire family. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
