¡Vamos! Let's Cross the Bridge

by Raúl the Third, Raúl the Third (Illustrator), Elaine Bay (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

In this exciting and dynamic follow-up to ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat, Pura Belpré Medal–winning illustrator Raúl the Third does it again by quickly building a whole world in just a few pages that’s so full of detail and joy you’ll get lost in it immediately. ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge is some of the most fun you can have reading a picture book! If you see Raúl the Third’s name on a project — don’t walk, run and get it. ¡Vamos!

Winner of the Pura Belpré Medal! A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book!

Little Lobo and Bernabé return in ¡Vamos! Let's Cross the Bridge, a joyful paper-over-board picture book follow-up to ¡Vamos! Let's Go Eat about coming together and celebrating community from New York Times bestselling, three-time Pura Belpré Award-winning author-illustrator Raúl the Third.

People are always crossing the bridge for work, to visit family, or for play. Some going this way; others going that way. Back and forth they go. With friends on foot and in bicycles, in cars and trucks, the bridge is an incredibly busy place with many different types of vehicles.

Little Lobo and his dog Bernabé have a new truck and they are using it to carry party supplies over the bridge with their pals El Toro and La Oink Oink. The line is long and everyone on the bridge is stuck. How will they pass the time?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358380405
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Series:	World of ¡Vamos! Series
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Raúl the Third is the New York Times bestselling, three-time Pura Belpré Award–winning author-illustrator of ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat, ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge, and the rest of the World of ¡Vamos! He illustrated Schneider Family Book Award honoree Stuntboy, in the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds, and the Lowriders series, by Cathy Camper. Raúl was born in Texas and grew up going back and forth between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, México. He now lives in Medford, Massachusetts, with his New York Times bestselling collaborator, Elaine Bay, and their son, Raúl the Fourth.

Raúl the Third is the New York Times bestselling, three-time Pura Belpré Award–winning author-illustrator of ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat, ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge, and the rest of the World of ¡Vamos! He illustrated Schneider Family Book Award honoree Stuntboy, in the Meantime, by Jason Reynolds, and the Lowriders series, by Cathy Camper. Raúl was born in Texas and grew up going back and forth between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, México. He now lives in Medford, Massachusetts, with his New York Times bestselling collaborator, Elaine Bay, and their son, Raúl the Fourth.

Editorial Reviews

Like the other books in the series, this outing excels in its inclusion of cultural references in its illustrations.... Totally fun and dynamic.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Vibrant spreads allow the party to spill out of the pages.... A perfect addition to the World of “¡Vamos!” and to picture book collections for children.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Raúl the Third's intricate illustrations in his signature art style bring the busy bridge to life with so much detail that every read through will have kids spotting new things on each page.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2021

PreS-Gr 2—Little Lobo has his new truck loaded up with fun things for a big celebración—piñatas, cakes, gifts, and more—but first Little Lobo and friends have to cross the puente to get to the city. As they make their way, readers can see the colorful towns on both sides of the bridge, one that resembles the Paso del Norte International Bridge. It connects two similar towns in two countries, one in which English is mostly spoken, and one in which Spanish is the main language. Having to wait in much heavier traffic than anticipated, Little Lobo shows his friends the incredible happenings all around them—food trucks selling delicious foods like churros, lowriders bouncing up and down, and a bus full of luchadores. As they wait, the friends realize they can bring the celebration to everyone. New and returning visitors to the "¡Vamos!"series will jump right into the bright, colorful world and travel alongside the characters, taking in the sights and imagining the smells. Readers will love pointing out the Easter eggs and cultural references on every page, many of which, like Cantinflas and De la Rosa Mazapan, may be very familiar. Vibrant spreads allow the party to spill out of the pages, and the Spanish words appear in a glossary. VERDICT A perfect addition to the world of "¡Vamos!" and to picture book collections for children.—Selenia Paz, Harris County P.L., Houston

School Library Journal

★ 2021-08-11
Traffic threatens to thwart Little Lobo’s delivery.

Little Lobo and his friends make another appearance in Raúl the Third’s latest installment in the World of ¡Vamos! series. Like “thousands of people [who] cross from one side of the bridge to the other,” Little Lobo heads over from one country to the other, bound for “la gran celebración” with party supplies and a band made up of frogs and a snake who rattles a maraca. As the hours go by and the group waits for their turn to cross the bridge, “the day turns into night,” and the characters begin to lose their patience and get hungry. But there are food trucks in line too! Soon Little Lobo and his friends discover the smorgasbord of culinary options around them and that so long as you have good friends and good music, you can have a party anywhere. Like the other books in the series, this outing excels in its inclusion of cultural references in its illustrations: Cantinflas, El Chavo del Ocho’s barrel, tuna-fruit vendors, T-shirts displaying El Paso’s area code, and the Juárez X are only some of the details that Raúl the Third gets right about life and culture in the depicted area. Spanish vocabulary is intertwined throughout the text as well as appearing in both the occasional labels in the illustrations and the handy glossary at the end. The iconic illustration style is enhanced by Bay’s colors, which bring the vibrant spirit of the border to the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Totally fun and dynamic. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews