The Interpreter

Starred review from October 14, 2024
“Some kids had one job: to be a kid. Cecilia worked two.” When not playing soccer or engaging in kid life, Cecilia serves as an interpreter between her Spanish-speaking parents and their English-speaking community. Abtahi (Twin Flames), making a well-developed picture book debut, tracks the back-and-forth in text bubbles—blue for English and orange for Spanish—as Cecilia is called in “to all kinds of grown-up places. Places her classmates had never been.” On one page, she translates a doctor’s orders for her gravely sick baby sister; on another, she omits a hairdresser’s unkind remark about her mother’s hair. Finally, asked at a parent-teacher conference how she’s doing, Cecilia reflects on her load, communicating how interpreting is impacting her day-to-day. Employing differing uniforms—striped duds for kid activities and a too-big green business suit for translation work—lively watercolor and pencil crayon illustrations from Arnaldo (The Museum of Very Bad Smells) show the strain of Cecilia’s moving back and forth, until supportive changes help her become a kid who’s happy to help, “...just not all the time.” Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Spanish edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. Illustrator’s agent: Alexandra Levick, Writers House.

Starred review from October 25, 2024

K-Gr 3-This appealing picture book thoughtfully portrays the translation duties often taken on by children in immigrant families. With her older brother off at college, elementary school student Cecilia is her Spanish-speaking family's main interpreter for English-language interactions. She engages in all kinds of adult-level scenarios, from the doctor's office to the DMV, and she's proud of the way she can help. Even so, her family's reliance on her language skills begins to weigh heavily, and she longs to just be a regular kid playing soccer. After an understandable outburst, her family reshuffles priorities and recruits more support from the older brother and an aunt. This title presents a balanced look at a situation that will feel familiar to many families and offers a positive model for resolution. Though this family's dilemma is a little too easily resolved, the happy ending demonstrates caring and teamwork in an appropriate way for the book's young audience. Gently rounded watercolor illustrations add nuance to the text, portraying Cecilia in an oversized suit and tie when she's on the job as her family's interpreter. The suit grows bulky and ill-fitting as her stress increases and shrinks to fit comfortably once other family members pitch in to help. Dialogue is cleverly differentiated in speech bubbles: yellow for Spanish, blue for English, and pink for the occasional Farsi. VERDICT With its emotionally resonant look at one aspect of immigrant family dynamics, this title is a solid purchase for picture book collections.-Allison Tran

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2024
A pint-size interpreter reaches a boiling point. Life's busy enough for young Cecilia, who has two full-time jobs: being a kid and interpreting for her Spanish-speaking parents. At any moment, they might request her services in "all kinds of grown-up places." Donning a rather sharp green power suit, Cecilia translates during a doctor's appointment, reshares instructions given by a disgruntled DMV employee, and ensures the perfect haircut at the salon. But all this work leaves her with no time to play soccer with her friends. So when a kind teacher inquires how she's doing during a parent-teacher conference, Cecilia decides to unload and to ask her parents for support, depicted in a stunning double-page outburst in both Spanish and English (both languages are featured throughout the text). In her picture-book debut, Abtahi masterfully weaves an everyday tale that will be familiar to designated translators of all ages from immigrant families. Cecilia's eventual cry for help speaks to the resilience that children in similar situations possess while also emphasizing the importance of self-care. Arnaldo's bright watercolor and pencil-crayon artwork provides much-needed levity, with speech bubbles predominantly colored in blue and orange to differentiate between the languages. While Cecilia and her family are cued Latine, secondary characters offer broad cultural diversity. Publishes simultaneously in Spanish. Sensationally true to life.(Picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from December 1, 2024
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* Cecilia has two jobs. One as a kid who loves to play soccer, and another as an interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents. The interpreter job is special: Cecilia goes to some grown-up places that her friends have never been, like the DMV and the accountant. But it comes with a lot of responsibility, and Cecilia sometimes mixes up her jobs and really misses playing with her friends. In many ways, Cecilia's world is split in two, as she bounces between being a kid and being an ad hoc interpreter, and the speech balloons echo that split: English dialogue appears in blue, while Spanish is in peach. Abtahi's story about circumstances of bilingual family life that sometimes force children into these adult roles is engagingly rendered in Arnaldo's colored pencil and watercolor drawings that both reflect the silliness of the situation and neatly show how overwhelmed Cecilia becomes: carrying a briefcase and drinking coffee to combat the exhaustion of working overtime, she's often dressed in an oversized suit, which gets outlandishly bigger the more overwhelmed she feels. In addition to nicely balancing an important topic with lighthearted comedy, the book also offers a solution of teamwork that is both thoughtful and respectful to the entire family.

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March 1, 2025
Cecilia, a Latine girl, juggles two jobs: kid and interpreter. Text bubbles in yellow for Spanish and blue for English differentiate the languages spoken by Cecilia's "clients" (i.e., her parents) and by those at "grown-up places," including the doctor's office and the DMV. As Cecilia dutifully translates questions, concerns, and instructions, Arnaldo's colorful watercolor and pencil-crayon illustrations elaborate on Abtahi's metaphor -- Cecilia appears to work in an office, wears an oversized suit and tie, and gulps down coffee -- while conveying, through her frizzing ponytail and rumpled jacket, the pressures of "working overtime." When Cecilia is asked about her feelings during a parent-teacher conference and admits the truth, her mother and father console her and promise to get more help. Abtahi, who took inspiration from her own multilingual childhood, strikes an important balance in her resolution: the necessity of interpreting for immigrant parents is not dismissed or shamed, while the pressure it can place on their children is addressed with empathy. After other family members step in to "pick up shifts" for Cecilia, she's able to continue helping her family while prioritizing her primary job: being a kid. Emma Shacochis

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)