When I received my envelope of goodies from Barefoot Press awhile back, Ruby’s School Walk (Bilingual Portuguese & English) (Barefoot Bilinguals) in paperback was among the books. The contributors are Kathryn White and Miriam Latimer. I was unfamiliar with the title even though I check the new titles from the publisher periodically. But even if I had seen it, since it was bilingual I might have passed it by. Yet, I am glad I did not and had this finished copy sent to me. Because I might not have been able to read the Portuguese half, but the English part was such a treat.
We follow Ruby and her imagination as she walks to school with her mother. Where her mother sees a nice stream, our gal sees crocodiles. Where we see a small wooded area, it is a dark dangerous place. We see the countryside as we stroll through the community on our way to school. It is fun, sweet, simple and cozy. It deals with fears we have as children, the issues of starting school and so forth. In classic Barefoot Press style, the illustrations are colorful and cute. They have a bit of punch to them but are not overwhelming.
You can get editions of the story in English with Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole (to be honest, I was not aware you could get books in this language!), and Bengali. Plus, there is a solo English edition. In September 2025 we will see a bilingual Vietnamese & English edition.