OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Las Tres Chicas de East Austin" by Mary Donley-Slover.]

Las Tres Chicas de East Austin: Quien Dice Que a Todos Les Queda La Misma Medida by Mary Donley-Slover is a children’s book that is written in two languages, English and Spanish. It is the first installment in the Las Tres Chicas de East Austin series. The story is based on the author’s childhood in Austin, Texas.

Mary and her younger sisters Barbara and Sylvia live with their mother who doesn’t have much money. During their summer vacation, the three girls pick dewberries in the field next door to make extra money. They decide to put their earnings together to buy fabric so that Mary can sew new dresses for them. Since new clothes are a rarity in this family, they are very excited about the prospect of wearing pretty dresses on the first day of school. One hurdle is that Mary doesn’t know how to use the antique sewing machine in their home and neither does her mother.

I enjoyed this sweet story of a close-knit family who appreciates the smallest of things, such as a soda or comic book. Mary is a likable, plucky character who attempts to create something nice through hard work and ingenuity, despite the family’s meager finances.

The colorful artwork is a nice complement to the narrative. However, Mary looks old enough to be Barbara and Sylvia’s mother in a few of the illustrations. Since the girls’ ages aren’t stated, it’s unclear how much of an age difference is between Mary and her sisters.

The book is written with each English-written page followed by the same narrative written in Spanish. Since there is a full-page illustration after each Spanish-written page, the English pages are displayed in a 1, 4, 7, etc. sequence. Although I settled into the format after a few pages, I found the style hard to follow and also think it would be confusing to children. As a dual language book, the story would have had a more natural flow if the entire story was completed in one language with accompanying illustrations, followed by the entire story in Spanish.

The English translation of the title is The Three Girls of East Austin: Who Says One Size Fits All? I hesitated before selecting the book since the title on the cover shown on Amazon is only in Spanish. In order to attract a wider audience, I think the title should be displayed in both languages or in English with a note that the book is written in both languages.

A good editing is needed as the story contains numerous errors. These errors include missing punctuation, missing words, a homophone (site instead of sight), and incorrectly worded sentences. In addition, Mary is referred to as Maria twice during the story.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The concept of a dual language story is a good one, but the narrative had an awkward flow due to the layout. Still, the story is heartwarming and would merit a higher rating with professional editing and an improved English/Spanish format. I would recommend it to bilingual families who enjoy reading children’s books in English and Spanish.

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Las Tres Chicas de East Austin
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like bookowlie's review? Post a comment saying so!

Great review as always! Too bad about the lack of good editing. The concept sounds good though.

Thanks Gali! I think the series has a lot of potential. However, I was a little surprised that the author chose to categorize the book in the Historical Fiction genre. Since it is a children's book, I think it would be marketed better in the Children's Book genre. Besides, it isn't clear what the time period is; based on the narrative, I had no idea when the story took place.

That was a very honest review. The story reminds me of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and it sounds like a really good story. Too bad, though, about the errors. Great job on the review.

kimmyschemy06 wrote:That was a very honest review. The story reminds me of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and it sounds like a really good story. Too bad, though, about the errors. Great job on the review.

Thanks Kimmyschemy. The main differences are: 1) the story is very short - 37 pages, including the text in both languages; and 2) there is really no mention in the story to indicate that it takes place in the past. I only assumed this due to the placement in the historical fiction genre and the background info in the Amazon summary/author info that explained that it was loosely based on the author's childhood. Otherwise, I would have had no idea whether the book was set in the present or past.

Awesome review, bookowlie!

Honest review. good job!

Thanks TrishaAnn and Ashley for the feedback! Despite the issues I mentioned, it's a sweet story.

The idea of a bilingual book is awesome, and the storyline sounds interesting. The lack of editing is a shame. Good review.

Great review, bookowlie! I always appreciate it when a reviewer shares editing issues. It doesn't mean I won't read a book, but knowing there are errors can help me decide to read it--or not.

Silvermoon wrote:The idea of a bilingual book is awesome, and the storyline sounds interesting. The lack of editing is a shame. Good review.

I agree on both points. Actually, one of the reasons I selected the book was the interesting concept of a bilingual children's book. The lack of editing was more noticeable in a short book. I also think there should be particular attention paid to grammar in a children's book, to set the proper example.

-- 14 Sep 2016, 10:07 --

MsMartha wrote:Great review, bookowlie! I always appreciate it when a reviewer shares editing issues. It doesn't mean I won't read a book, but knowing there are errors can help me decide to read it--or not.

Thanks MsMartha! In this case, the errors were really noticeable since it was a relatively short book. Also, what kind of example does it set to a child when there are missing words and incorrect or missing punctuation?

bookowlie wrote:

Silvermoon wrote:
Thanks MsMartha! In this case, the errors were really noticeable since it was a relatively short book. Also, what kind of example does it set to a child when there are missing words and incorrect or missing punctuation?

A good point!

Great review! This sounds like a charming story. I sincerely hope that the author takes your advice about the formatting. I'm sure that the book would be more popular if it was presented better.

LivreAmour217 wrote:Great review! This sounds like a charming story. I sincerely hope that the author takes your advice about the formatting. I'm sure that the book would be more popular if it was presented better.

Thanks Livre for the feedback. It was truly a heartwarming story and my review comments were meant as constructive criticism.

I'm glad the story aspect of this book was enjoyable. I think, especially if the author is presenting this as a dual language book, there really should not be any errors. For someone trying to learn a different language, this would be truly disastrous. Hopefully the author did some editing on this one and fixed the problems. Otherwise, sounds great. Thanks!