Gecko Girl/La gartijita

K-Gr 2–A bilingual story about a girl who wakes up having magically transformed into a gecko. Lizzie is used to falling asleep while listening to her dad’s stories at bedtime, but she is completely surprised to wake up having the body of a gecko. She goes looking for answers inside and outside her home, facing increasingly dangerous and hostile interactions. After shutting her eyes tight following an encounter with a black bird, she’s back in bed and realizes it was all a dream. This story is both simple and confusing where the tried and true “it was all a dream” is used. Lizzie is chased, threatened, and faces disdain and unkind words throughout the story, which could make young readers worry for her, especially since there’s very little redemption or resolution to the book. The illustrations do not seem modern, and they resemble a children’s book style of years past, making it seem less appealing and eye-catching than the more contrasting style of current young readers stories.