My Dog Just Speaks Spanish

Does your dog understand your commands? What if you gave the same commands in a different language?

This is what happens to Aurora and her spaniel, Nena. When Aurora moved to the United States, she started learning English. Her home is filled with little sticky notes, labeling everything with both their Spanish and English names: poncho = raincoat; paraguas = umbrella; zapatos = shoes; pelota = ball. As Aurora learns to speak English, however, Nena still only understands Spanish. Training a dog comes with a list of one word commands. Nena won’t stop running if Aurora yells “Wait!” She will only stop if she yells “¡Espera!” Can a dog learn new translations of these one word commands? If an old dog can’t learn new tricks, can the old dog learn a new name for the same trick?

In My Dog Just Speaks Spanish, Andrea Cáceres wrote a cute bilingual story for anyone in the family to enjoy. The illustrations—also by Cáceres—add fun little things to find all around every page. This one will be fun to read and re-read together, pointing at new things in the pictures each time, like a squirrel lounging on a tree branch.