De regreso a la escuela: Pepita y la peleonera

As we near the beginning of school, I will be winding down my "De regreso a la escuela" Spanish read-aloud series.  If you want to see all of the books that have been recommended this summer, please visit my Pinterest board here or click on the "Back to School" tag in the right margin of the blog.


This week's book is not one for the first day but it would be a worthwhile read for later in the first week.  Pepita y la peleonera is the bilingual story of Pepita's first week at school.  She is bullied by another girl in her class named Babette.  After getting advice from several friends and family members, Pepita decides try out her father's counsel: "Así es que mañana si Babette te vuelve a jalar las trenzas, debes decírselo a tu maestra.  Pero si Babette te dice algo malo, puedes responderle de manera cortés o alejarte.  Pero hagas lo que hagas, debes ser cordial."

He goes on to explain that cordial means about the same thing as amable.

The next time Babette bullies her, Pepita confronts her with kindness and Babette decides to change.

Since I brought this book home from the library, my daughter has asked for it to be read aloud to her no less than three times and she has kept it in her bed to "read" at nap time.  My mom was here last week and had been the one reading it aloud to her.  She thought it would have been better if there was one more page at the end telling a bit more of the story.  Either way, the story sure resonated with my four-year-old.

Pepita is the character in several other books by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman and this book is a great way to introduce your students to characters in a book series as well as begin a discussion about friendships and avoiding bullying.

Have you read any of the Pepita books before?  Which one is your favorite?