Book: Oh No, Gotta Go! by Susan Middleton Elya

Genre: Children’s, Bilingual

Oh No, Gotta Go! Is the hilarious and entirely believable tale of a car ride and a child who realizes, shortly after the departure, that she has to go.  Parents everywhere understand the fear that arises when this phrase pops up during a roadtrip–usually right after you pass the last exit for two hundred miles.  Oy.  Gives me cold chills just thinking about it.  Anyways, this is a book, so it’s not scary.

What makes this book double the fun is that it is bilingual.  What makes this book triple the fun is that it isn’t boring bilingual.  You know the type… you have to read one page in English, and then the same page again in Spanish.  Nothing exactly wrong with that, except that it is incredibly difficult to coax the average toddler who does not already know Spanish into maintaining interest in the book while you stumble through a page of rudimentary Spanish words.

Oh No, Gotta Go is a riotous rhyming romp in English, with Spanish words punctuating and fitting into the rhyme no matter how horrible your Spanish accent is (you can trust me on this because mine is dreadful).  I laughed out loud while reading the book to Sophiapea.  And then my husband started listening to me read it, and he laughed out loud.  And then when I was done reading the book to Sophiapea, he started reading it again, for his own benefit.  It is one of those books that is fun to read aloud.  You can trust me on this–I have read plenty of children’s books that were not fun to read aloud, aloud.  This was a true gem.

It was good enough, funny enough, and unique enough, that I strongly suspect my daughter will find herself gifted with it at some point in the near future.  I’m such a thoughtful mother. 😛

If you have children who are of an age for picture books, this is definitely one to check out.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars