There is a lot to love about the book One Year: Une Année Un Año Ein Jahr. There are adorable illustrations by Julia Leister that give things a bright, fun, and whimsical look. As the publisher’s description says, these “retro-style illustrations” make things cozy and happy. The images tell you the month with the people’s clothing and actions, plus the weather is a great clue. I really enjoyed all of this until the whole point of the book. The four different languages.
Ioana Stoain puts a month’s name in four languages: English, French, Spanish and German. I knew the English word (top left corner of the page); assumed the bottom right of the page was German (who knew how many months were the same in both languages?), but due to the fact that French and Spanish look similar to me, it took a bit for me to realize Spanish was lower left and French upper right. A quick key at the start of the book would have been fabulous. 
However, despite this bump, it is a delightfully fresh take on languages. I wish we had this in kindergarten when our teacher was teaching us French and German, as then we could have tried to connect words with images. However, if your family knows any of the languages it would be a fun first book to show the comparisons. I would have liked a pronunciation guide, but I know that there is only so much that can be included. And of course, I am curious how the final look (which is due in late November 2024) will be as reading via an online reader copy (that was sent to me by the Publishing Director of Curious Bird Books) does lack the charm of a book in hand.
