Conejito: A Folktale from Panama

My girls (ages 4 and 6) love this book, and have loved it since the youngest was 2. Not too wordy, lots of fun with a repeating song throughout, and a natural transition from Spanish to English that introduces some foreign language without seeming "instructional."

My (mainly Spanish-speaking) kindergarteners love this story, and enjoy helping their hopelessly monolingual teacher pronounce the Spanish words. The repetition is great for this age, the song is catchy, and the humor makes the story fun for the teacher too. We also took the time to examine Panama (where the story originated) on the map. This is one of the handful of books I pull out when we've got that extra 5-10 minutes, or when they're wild and I need to get them focused again.