Manana Iguana

Written by Ann Whitford Paul

Narrated by Brian Amador and Rosi Amador

In this bilingual version of the Little Red Hen, Spanish words and phrases are sprinkled throughout the text to help understanding through context.

When Iguana plans a fiesta, her friends all support the idea, but can’t get behind the actual preparations. At party time, Iguana turns away her lazy friends and they find a way to make it up to her.

This clever turn on an old favorite is a lesson both in friendship and in Spanish vocabulary.

A Live Oak Media audio production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Live Oak Media
• Release date: Jan 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781430115397

Ann Whitford Paul

Ann Whitford Paul is the author of the bestselling If Animals series, including If Animals Kissed Good Night, which School Library Journal calls “charming”; If Animals Went to School; If Animals Celebrated Christmas; If Animals Gave Thanks; and If Animals Tried to be Kind. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews for Manana Iguana

[rosa.mill · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is twist on the Little Red Hen. Iguana, Culebra, Tortuga and Conejo decide to throw a party, but Iguana gets stuck doing all the prep work herself. There is some spanish vocabulary mixed in and it has a happy ending.

[mferaci-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mañana, Iguana is about an Iguana who decides to plan a party for her friends. Iguana's friends make excuses and will not help her with the various stages of planning the party. Once the party arrives, Iguana does not allow her friends to attend because they did not help and has fun with the other guests. I liked this story because it had a good message for children. Through Iguana's friend's actions, children can learn it is important to help others and take responsibility. Also, I liked how the author incorporated basic Spanish words into the text.

[k_rodriguez-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mañana, Iguana is a cute story for the whole family to enjoy. Iguana and her friends want to throw a party, but none of the friends are willing to help with the preparations for the party. They realized that being lazy was not right and decide to help Iguana without her knowing after the party. Great story that teaches you how to say the days of the week in Spanish. It includes a small glossary with the days of the week and a few other Spanish words used in the story.

[swelker-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a tale of an iguana who is throwing a fiesta. While getting ready for the fiesta she asks her friends for help, but they never help her. By the time the fiesta came, Iguana did everything by herself. Once the fiesta was over, the friends realized that Iguana did everything that they decided to clean up after while Igauna slept. In the end, the friends realized they were selfish and decided to help. This book can teach students to be caring, and to always help a friend in need. This book is great to teach students different Spanish words too.

[bkp008 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story to use with ELL's because is has words in both english and spanish along with a glossary to help students understand meaning. I would use this to identify problem because Iguana has trouble throughout the entire story.Students like the book because they are preparing for a party!

[rgraf1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about some animals who want to make a party together but everyone is too lazy for helping organizing everything. So Iguana has to prepare everything on his own. After the party he is really tired because he had to do so much. That is when the others notice that they were unfair and that they should have helped him. So they clean everything up and in the end they come together and eat all the leftovers from the party. I loved the story and the colourful pictures. I also liked that a part of the words were written in spanish. So I think this would be a perfect book for children who have spanish as their second mothertongue.

[christian3mehalic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought Mañana, Iguana was a very well written and lesson teaching book. The Iguana wants to throw a party and asks the rabbit, the turtle, and the snake to help her out. She asks them to help her do different things on every day of the week but they never wanted to help. They kept giving her different excuses as to why they couldn't help her set up for the party. When the day of the party arrived, the snake, the turtle, and the rabbit were all ready to have the party but the iguana stopped them and told them they couldn't come because they didn't help with the party. In the end they help her clean up while she is sleeping and in morning they have leftover food from the party and are friends once again. A very good book for teaching the lesson of helping others. I think thats a lesson that can not be taught enough, so we as teachers should always be promoting it.

[hopemiller123 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading this book! It is about an iguana that wants to throw a fiesta with her friends. She is trying to get help from her friends, but they continue to make excuses throughout the story. After the iguana does all of the work for the fiesta and is ready to start the party, all her friends that didn't help her come. She tells them that since they didn't help they can't come. The iguana's friend's realize that they were being selfish and decided to clean up for their friend to make up for not helping. This book is about friendship and spanish words are incorporated throughout that would be fun to teach to kids.