From the Windowpane: A Book About the Pandemic by Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza tells the story of how a young child experienced the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the months that followed. With its bilingual narration, it embarks on the harsh journey of living through the pandemic that changed our lives without warning. It starts with the early months when everyone began to learn unfamiliar terms and nobody understood what lay ahead. From having to isolate ourselves at home for a few weeks to having to entirely transform our lives, this book describes the ups and downs we experienced during the pandemic easily and realistically. It's the ideal book to read aloud to kids to help them comprehend what shook the world.

With its charming and well-presented illustrations, From the Windowpane relates a child's experience during the pandemic. The fact that it is written in both Spanish and English is something I liked because it allows the reader to not only enjoy the book but also learn a new language. Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza successfully captures the emotions that many individuals went through throughout the pandemic, which included a variety of learning processes, feeling lonely, missing our friends and family, and questioning when this particular scenario would come to an end. I want to highlight this book's fantastic conclusion, which reminds us all that even if we have suffered loss, we have also gained a great deal of insight and came to an understanding of our inner strengths.

From the Windowpane: A Book About the Pandemic by Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza is a children's book that follows a little girl called Alyssa, who reflects on everything that happened during the lockdown. It describes the new rules and measures such as the mask, the social distancing, and washing our hands. It also explores the strange situation and how the world tried to adapt everyday life to one in our homes, with online schooling, working from home, and relationships with your friends. Through Alyssa's eyes, it depicts the longing for freedom inside us throughout the quarantine, but it also focuses on those valuable and positive lessons this situation has taught us.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on each one of us. It forced society to change, and not even the adults understood what was happening. Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza brings us From the Windowpane to illustrate what we have overcome. It does this simply so that children can process what they have lived through. The writing style is rhythmic and dynamic. The way the lines break contributes to giving the story musicality. Having it written in both English and Spanish is highly appropriate. Not only can it be read by people who speak either of the languages, but it also teaches you the other. It is marvelously formatted, with text on one side and illustrations on the other. This enables the parent to read while the child looks at the pictures. The drawings are beautiful, but they are also helpful and illustrative. It is an outstanding book written from reflectiveness instead of pessimism.

From The Windowpane: A Book About The Pandemic by Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza is a children's picture book based on the Coronavirus pandemic. A young girl named Alyssa reflects on how the world as she knew it has changed. A virus takes over and all of a sudden going to school means logging on to a computer and staying indoors, not seeing friends or family outside your household. Alyssa, like most children during the lockdown, begins to feel a variety of emotions. She feels unsafe and unsettled, just wanting everything to go back to normal. If you have a child who has experienced the impact of the Coronavirus, this book may help validate their feelings and put them on the right track to return to normality.

Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza's book From The Windowpane will transport you back in time to the world of lockdown and mandatory mask-wearing. It was hard enough for us adults to adjust to the changes the virus caused but even harder for children. The effects of it all could have left long-term damage to their mental well-being, and that's why I'm glad authors have created books to help ease the transition back into everyday life. As well as great content, the book has adorable illustrations that will attract young readers' attention. I feel this book will reaffirm the mixed emotions children may still be feeling, and help them understand and overcome them. I hope that the author continues to produce more books such as this and I wish her all the best in her writing journey.

The one constant in life is change. Life seems to be one change after another, but life took an abnormal turn at the end of 2019. Not only were there the regular little changes that occurred almost daily, but our entire lifestyle changed due to COVID. Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza has written an excellent rhyming children’s book, From the Windowpane: A Book About the Pandemic, which shows how the new way of living is challenging but doable. Our old way of interacting changed drastically. The new normal took over and had lasting effects. No longer could children spend their free time playing together with their peers. Employees now worked from home instead of going to the office. Hugging became a thing of the past. Even school was taught remotely. If someone did have to go out in public, they wore masks and stayed at least 6 feet from everyone else. Depression, as well as boredom, soared. However, things are calming down, and we are learning to cope with changing circumstances. Ida ends with an encouraging word and reminds us that even during the disaster, we were strong and resilient.

Change occurs, but most people struggle with it. In particular, children battle to understand why things have to change. Their struggle may be as simple as not understanding why they can’t go to the store or more complicated emotionally, such as why we can’t visit Grandma. One negative of the COVID scare was isolation. Dr. Ida Acuña-Garza wants to help children understand that, while they may be cut off, they are not alone. Most of society was isolated but can be united by the knowledge that others face the same challenges. From the Windowpane helps children learn how to cope with isolation and all the new ways of interacting with others. Parents, please sit with your children and go through this book, answering their questions and encouraging them. This virus has offered an unprecedented opportunity to spend quality time bonding and growing together with your children. Use it wisely.