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Reviewed by Jane Finch for Readers' Favorite
No Birthday For Mara, written by Mariana Llanos and illustrated by Julian Galvan, is a delightful story of a little girl who thinks everyone has forgotten her birthday. Everyone acts as if it is not her special day, even though she has been waiting for the day for so long. She has asked for a polka-dotted elephant and keeps looking for it. But her parents go to work and even the babysitter doesn’t make any mention of the special day. The babysitter brings a kitten with her that she is looking after, and Mara spends her time playing with the kitten. She had prepared a basket lined with a fluffy blanket for the elephant, but in the meantime it fits the kitten perfectly. Mara feels very sad, but happy too as she plays with the kitten. In the afternoon there is a lovely surprise.
This is a charming story that is really about emotions. It shows how Mara copes with sadness and happiness, and expectation and disappointment. The author, Mariana Llanos, has done a clever job of explaining about emotions and this book would be ideal for a parent to read to a child, explaining how Mara might be feeling. At the end of the book there are some colouring pictures and comments on feelings and emotions which enhance the overall ethos of the book. The illustrations are a delightful addition to make this the perfect book for a young child to learn about how they feel at different times.
