Laughing Out Loud, I Fly Review
Laughing Out Loud, I Flyby Juan Felipe Herrera, drawings by Karen Barbour
Joanna Cotler Books, May 1998.
Hardcover, 45 pages.
ISBN: 0060276045.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Juan Felipe Herrera has written a joyous little book of poems for
children in Spanish and English. He modeled this book on a similar
book written by Picasso called Hunk of Skin. Each poem appears
in Spanish on the left side of the page and the English equivalent
is on the right. If you have only encountered Spanish in a middle
school course or, sadly, only on a restaurant menu you can still
enjoy it by reading the English side and dipping into the Spanish
that looks familiar and recognizable on the other side.
Like a package of peppermints, poetry is written for savoring in short spaces of time stolen from our over-scheduled lives. Laughing Out Loud I Fly is thin and small, so that it fits easily into a tote bag or briefcase for a quick foray into its pleasures as you commute home or as you try to sit out the last minutes of batting practice for the Little League baseball team. It is also a great tool for introducing your child to poetry and to the joys of being multi-lingual.
The best thing to be gained from reading Laughing Out Loud, I Fly is that you and your child can for awhile be invited into the ethnic warmth and comfort of the Hispanic community. Most often Mr. Herrera evokes the food images that are one of the most important parts of ethnic identity. To many Americans of all groups, but most especially those from the Southwest, the Mexican/Native American foods have become so ingrained in our weekly diet that, when we are transferred to another continent for whatever reason, we feel severely deprived and start importuning those left at home to send us some salsa. Therefore, we can enjoy the lovely phrases like, "al viejito Don Chon...cocina chorizo con nopales," and then proceed to, "It is in the coffee, It is in the Tiny Black Bean," which is across the page from, "Esta en el cafe, esta en el frijolito negro." In a world grown smaller, poetry can fill gaps of time and culture and add enjoyment to both. I suggest that you enjoy this little book of poetry and childhood because like all good poetry, it will cause you to see ordinary things in a new way.
--Sarah Reaves White
Return to the October 1998 issue of The IWJ.
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