An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge
Juana and Lucas
It does feel a little strange to read about a character’s struggles learning in English… in English. But the book describes Juana’s frustrations in a very empathetic way. It left me very impressed with everyone who learns English as a second language and who is bilingual. The book is full of visual interest from the character diagrams to the bright watercolor illustrations. Even the text varies in size and shape adding to the story in a similar way to the text in the Geronimo Stilton paperback series, though the effect in Juana and Lucas is used more sparingly and less obtrusively. Spanish is sprinkled throughout the book always accompanied by context clues to aid comprehension.
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