I absolutely loved the book “The dead family Diaz” by P.J Bracegirdle, because it takes readers on a journey and it is relatable. I like how it is told through the dead families point of view like in this line “…his family would walk among the living…did I tell you the living have big red tongues and bulging eye.” This is funny because readers might think that dead people look weird, but in the book they are the ones that think the living look funny. I really love the humorous tone of the book as well like in the line “’I told you we should have left earlier’; Mr. Diaz grumbled. ‘Just look at the traffic.’” Not only is that funny, but it also makes the story relatable. This is a great way to teach this holiday in a fun and exciting way. This book can also teach children that sometimes it’s worth getting over our fears and this is shown in this line “the dead boy discovered that he didn’t need guts to be brave.” This story is so great because it is educational, funny, and relatable. Not only is it all of those things, but it also has very bright and exciting illustrations. The illustrations in this book are just fantastic. ( )

In this book, it explores a real Mexican holiday, El Dia de los Muertos, with a little fantastical twist, showing the importance of open mindedness and learning about culture. In the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the dead Diaz family, who lives in the word of the dead and everything in it is basically the same as the land of the living but has the word dead in front of it. For example, the dead moon, the dead sun, dead eggs, and so forth. They are all skeletons in the Land of the Dead but once a year, they get to visit the world of the living on El Dia de los Muertos. The main character is very scared to see a living boy, he fears them because they are hot and squishy. Later, when they get to the Land of the Living, he losses his family and encounters another little boy. They get along very well and they enjoy each others company, by playing pranks and running around. Eventually, the main character finds out that he is a living boy and not a dead boy like himself, immediately they both run away from each other because they are scared. The main character finds his family and tells them all about it, they run into the living boy and his family and the two boys reconnect and say sorry for judging each other. Here, we see a theme of acceptance and how it is wrong to judge people at first glance. ( )

The Dead Family Diaz was a cute story about a famous holiday in Mexico, the Day of the Dead. It told a really powerful story about looking beyond people’s appearance and its what’s on the inside that counts. The plot of the story was wonderful and the illustrations really made the reader not only understand the culture of the Day of the Dead. Children should be encouraged to read this story because it might help them in life when forming relationships with others.
The story was basically a tale about a scary skeleton from the Day of the Dead getting ready to go to the real world to scare some real people. However, when he got there he befriended a “real boy” without even knowing it. When they found out they were two different kinds of people, they were frightened and wanted to avoid each other. In the end, the two boys realized they had fun together and it shouldn’t matter what they look like. It reminds me of my school experiences. I have definitely come across some people that I did not like because of the way they looked. But, once I was able to look beyond their appearance I realized I really liked these people because of their awesome personalities. It’s easy for children to be judgmental but by reading this story they can get a good perspective on not judging others due to their looks.
Before reading this book, I had a little background information on the Day of the Dead, but not an overwhelming amount. When I read this book the pictures really stood out to me because I didn’t realize how involved the Mexican community is when it comes to this holiday. The drawings had a lot of colors and truly showed how this holiday is a big part of these people’s lives.
The main idea of this book is definitely “don’t judge a book by its cover”. It’s really hard to do that when our brains can make assumptions without us even knowing it. This story is a good way to convey the message that you might be surprised by people and you should always be open minded when meeting others.

I liked the book The Dead Family Diaz for two reasons. The first reason that I enjoyed the book was because of the illustrations. The illustrations featured Spanish words within them. Some of the words that were featured were "familia" and "Día de los Muertos." It made the book feel more authentic and culturally appropriate. The second reason that I loved the book was because it offered a historical piece throughout the plot. The entire story is focused around El Día de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead. The back of the book even offers a short explanation of the history behind the holiday. This was a neat feature and it gave useful information. Overall, the big idea of this story was friendship. Angelito Diaz, the main character, was a dead child. When he went to the Land of the Living, he lost his family. He stumbled upon a boy his age whom he thought was also dead. As it turns out, he was a living boy! Although they were both stunned and afraid at first, the two ended up being friends. The boys put their differences aside and taught readers that we should not judge others based on our pre-existing notions. ( )

I enjoy this book because of the brightly colored images. It also involves the story of The Day of the Dead. Children who celebrate can relate and those who do not can learn about a new culture. It's written in a story format so it engages the reader while also teaching a lesson about history and culture. The information is appropriate for the reading level. The language is playful and easy to follow. I enjoyed how the two main characters interacted. The illustrations and format of the text were whimsical and visually pleasing. I feel as though the plot was a little hard to follow. The story line needed more information for me to be able to understand fully what was happening at the Day of the Dead celebration between both the dead and the living. However, being that this is for younger audiences it is likely they will be able to still follow. This story has cultural relevance to children who celebrate this holiday. I like how the book tells a fictional story about a skeleton and a boy walking among each other during their first day of the dead celebration. It is clearly fiction, but at the end of the book, it sums up what day of the dead is and how it came about. ( )