Señor Pancho Had a Rancho

Review by Ariadna Sánchez

Nursery rhymes are considered an important source of cultural heritage. Through music, individuals can experience joy, hope, honesty, and friendship. Señor Pancho Had a Rancho is written by Salvadorean award-winning author René Colato Laínez and humorously illustrated by Elwood Smith.  Colato Laínez takes young readers through an incredible bilingual music journey to the farm along with Old McDonald and Señor Pancho. Old McDonald speaks English and his animal, too. Old McDonald’s animals make enthusiastic voices in the farm. The cow moos, the rooster crows cock-a-doodle-doos, the dog woofs, the sheep baas, the horse neighs, and the chick peeps.  On the other hand, Señor Pancho speaks Spanish and his animals, too. They greet Señor Pancho like this: la vaca says muu, el gallo sings quiquiriquí, el perro says guau guau, la oveja pronounces a high bee bee, el caballo says a noisy jii jii, and el pollito a soft pío pío here and there. Both farmers and their animals have a great time together, but at the end of the day, Old McDonald and Señor Pancho realize they are not as distinct as they seem when they first meet. Instead, they discover more things in common that allow them to spend the rest of the evening dancing and singing E-I-E-I-O and cha-cha-cha- cha-cha. The moral of Señor Pancho Had a Rancho is that in order to have fun and be friends, one needs to learn how to embrace each other’s differences. Visit your local library to read more amazing stories. ¡Adiós!