Book Review: La gallina clueca de Josefina

New book alert! La gallina clueca de Josefina by María de Lourdes Victoria and Josephine Strange is the sweet, sweet story of a more-than-ready mother hen impatient to hatch a baby chick. It’s a phenomenal addition for those of you looking to add to your classroom or home libraries. Check out my review and some ideas on how to use it in your Spanish or bilingual classroom below.

Note: I received a sample copy of this book in return for an honest review. This post also contains affiliate links.

La gallina clueca de Josefina

I’ve recently reached out to several authors with culturally relevant Spanish and bilingual books and I’ve been blessed with a fantastic selection of books that I’m very excited to share with you over the course of this year. The first of which is the recently released La gallina clueca de Josefina written by the grandmother/granddaughter duo María de Lourdes Victoria and Josephine Strange and illustrated by Adriana Morales Marín.

The book is brimming with bold-color illustrations that are eye-catching and appealing for young readers, repetitive text to get kids in on the action, and a beautiful cyclical start to finish read that makes for a great read aloud.

The story, completely in Spanish, follows the well-known idea of a mother hen who is impatient to hatch her own chicks, but pits it against a young girl named Josefina who just wants some eggs to cook with. Readers follow along as the two, each with their own conflicting goals, find a way to get what they want.

María de Lourdes Victoria is an award-winning author and her experience shines through in this well-written story. The fact that co-author Josephine Strange is her granddaughter is the icing on the cake to this kid-friendly story. The book is based on a real-life hen named Popcorn and her baby chick, M. J.

And the best part? There are a ton of ways to use La gallina clueca de Josefina in the classroom.

How to Use La gallina clueca de Josefina in the Classroom

From the outset La gallina clueca de Josefina seems like a simple story about a hen who wants to hatch an egg, but once you dive in, the story provides plenty of content to be used in math, science, social studies, or language arts lessons.

Math

• Counting: The youngest readers can count how many eggs are laid on each page as you go through the book.
• Addition/Subtraction: If Josefina adds or takes away a certain number of eggs on a given day, how many eggs are left?

Social Studies

• Professions/Jobs: What types of jobs are there on a farm?
• Real World Connections: The hen in the story knows exactly what she wants to do with her life. Students can connect this with their own lives by answering the following questions. What do you want to be when you grow up? Or, what are you most passionate about?

Science

• Farm Animals: Discuss animals that live on a farm and what they provide (i.e., chickens give us eggs, cows give us milk).
• Life Cycle of a Chicken: Discuss the life cycle of a chicken. You could also venture into discussing why la gallina clueca can’t have a chick with the eggs she was laying on her own.

Language Arts

• Character Study with la gallina clueca: What are her likes/dislikes? What does she want more than anything?
• Character Study with Josefina: What are her likes/dislikes? What does she want in the story?
• Problem and Solution: What problem does la gallina clueca have? What is Josefina’s problem in the story? How do their problems get solved?
• Compare and Contrast: Play the song La gallina Turuleca. How are la gallina Turuleca and la gallina clueca similar? How are they different?

Spanish Vocabulary

La gallina clueca de Josefina is available in English and Spanish. It stands up to rereadings, cross-curricular learning, and is just plain fun. How can you use it in the classroom?

Want to check out some more amazing books? Take a look at The Secret to Finding Authentic & Award-Winning Spanish Kids’ Books or 21 Hispanic Heritage Month Kids’ Books.