Reviewed by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite  

In¡HOLA! Let's Learn Spanish: Visit New Pages and Make New Friends by Judy Martialay, Pete the Pilot takes kids on a new adventure aboard his magic plane, and this time the destination is Mexico. He has a lot in store for kids. They will learn about Mexico, about the interesting Mexican culture, the children of Mexico and, most importantly, they will learn Spanish. As they follow the exciting story of Panchito the jumping bean and his adventures, kids will have a chance to learn about life in Mexico with helpful tools to help them understand and memorize Spanish words and phrases they will come across throughout the story.   ¡HOLA! Let's Learn Spanish: Visit New Pages and Make New Friends by Judy Martialay is a children's language book unlike any other. It is an easy, fun, and exciting way to give kids a head start in Spanish or widen their already existing vocabulary. The book also teaches kids other important social values like making new friends and how to introduce themselves to new people. The style in which the book is written sets the agenda from the very start by using both English and Spanish right from the table of contents. By introducing just a few Spanish words at a time and blending them into the story, Judy Martialay ensures that kids are allowed time to internalize these words without hindering the flow of the story, thereby keeping it fun. The book also includes several useful and exciting tools to help kids memorize, understand, and put into practice the new words and phrases so far learned.

mat: Paperback Five Stars: Rich in Spanish Exposure w/Free Online Audio Stream 
Review by Maura Ann Rubies, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer Vine Voice 
This children's paperback sends you on a flight with Pete the Pilot as he takes his magic plane to Mexico. It opens with a fun story about Panchito--a Mexican jumping bean. You follow him on a brief adventure from his field, through market, to fiesta. Along the way, you meet people and experience new things while learning beginning Spanish words and phrases.  The drawings are simple yet colorful with a few color photographs included. The font is nice and large, with the story being bigger in size than the rest of the book. It's all very comfortable on the eyes, especially since EVERY Spanish word appears in bold.  One of my favorite aspects of the book, is that you can easily stream the audio version for free online at the website (provided in blue on the back of the title page). The author Judy Martialay narrates (with native speaker, Maria Fernanda Pardo who says the Spanish words/phrases). It's a must-have for learning the pronunciations. Play this for bedtime, bath time and/or mealtime to get as much exposure to the language as possible.  "UNA MASCARA/A Mask" is a craft project project with templates for making both male and female masks to decorate with beans. I love that there are photographs of completed samples. This inspires children to want to make one (or more) of their very own. You could then use these (or simple puppets made of popsicle sticks or paper bags...) to act out the characters as you reread the book. Note: An actual skit (Where is Panchito?) is located in the following chapter.  "TE TOCA A TI: It's Your Turn" is a chapter that provides activities to enable you to work with the Spanish words/phrases found in the story while adding many more into the "mix." You'll practice introductions, choose responses, identify items, place nouns in locations, hunt for specific people/things listed in Spanish, perform a skit and study expressions...  In "RINCON CULTURAL/Culture Corner," you learn some aspects of Spanish culture, including practices that inspired this story, like a song that is sung when trying to break a piñata and the mystery behind what a "jumping bean" actually is!  At the end of the book, you'll find "PALABRAS/Words" containing all the Spanish words organized by which section they were first introduced.  This is an excellent book that demands a sequel--you can't help but learn some Spanish from this rich experience.  *Complimentary paperback provided by the author for review purposes.

Maura Ann Rubies, Amazon

In her book for littles aged 6-10, former French and Spanish teacher Judy Martialay takes kids on a spirited adventure to Mexico where they meet Panchito, a Mexican jumping bean who does not want to end up in a pot with other frijoles.Since this is a book for kids, and I have two of those, I downloaded the ebook and set up shop to take them through Panchito's tale. Full disclosure, my kids are younger than the recommended age group, but they stuck with the story portion of the book. The Spanish words are interspersed into the English copy in such a way as to teach not only the sound of the words but also the context.In addition to the story section, Ms. Martialay includes practice word lists as well as cultural sections to educate her readers about the places where Spanish is spoken. My children lost interest in this section, but again they are below the recommended reader age.We reviewed an ebook copy in PDF, so it's difficult to see how the illustrations played into the general layout of the book, but for us, we wished there were more illustrations.  Ms. Martialay could easily break out the Panchito portion of the book, extend the illustrations and create a version of this book for the pre-reader set.In addition to the book, Ms. Martialay has created a full section of resources including online recordings of the book so you don't butcher the pronunciation (in case you either never took or don't remember your high school Spanish).All in all the book is a great resource for those hoping to help their little ones become multilingual.Overall rating: 4 Stars

For those parents looking to introduce their children to Spanish -- but don't speak the language or have languages in their elementary school -- "Let's Learn Spanish" by Judy Martialay, a former world language teacher in NY, is a good starting point. The book incorporates Spanish and language, and engaging illustrations on every page bring the stories to life and serve as a visual aid. For some fun and to extend the learning beyond the book, Martialay includes cultural explanations for Spanish language, Mexico, "la pinata" and even shows how to make a mask, "la mascara". The objective of the book seems to be is to inspire curiosity and excitement for learning Spanish in both parents and children - a very worthy goal! The audio version of the book can be downloaded from the website.http://www.polyglotkidz.com/ 
Stacie Berdan, author of Raising Global Children

Stacie Berdan Facebook Page

This review is from: ¡HOLA! Let's Learn Spanish: Visit New Places and Make New Friends (Paperback)  We read this book at Christmas to my 3 month old granddaughter. Although she probably did not appreciate it now, she certainly will in the future. My daughter-in-law is a speech language pathologist in Nashville, and was very impressed by the book. I was a Spanish teacher for 34 years and truly enjoyed Ms. Martialay's book. It is filled with useful vocabulary, a cute story, and so many other activities for children to enjoy in addition to many cultural experiences. I especially enjoyed the Treasure Hunt page and Daily expressions. There is even a skit at the end for the children to act out or a pinata to create. Ms. Martialay is certainly a very talented writer and I hope that she continues to create more books of this kind.

Lois Baisely, retired Spanish teacher

The author uses some clever tricks to help readers learn the Spanish language. Pete the Pilot takes us with him on a virtual trip to Mexico, teaching us a few basic Spanish words on the way. We are also introduced to some phrases in the text with Spanish translations in bold. In Mexico, we meet Panchito the Mexican jumping bean. We visit the bean field, the market, and a child's birthday party. More phrases are introduced in context throughout this silly story, which is sure to hold your child's attention. 
The words and phrases learned in the story are then reinforced in a segment called "It's your turn", with practical exercises designed to get children talking to their friends and family in Spanish. Then we go on a "Treasure Hunt" to physically find the objects in question; this activity further reinforces memory retention. Also included is an "expression diary" to keep track of how many times a week we use a selection of Spanish phrases. Further activities include a short skit that will get the children acting and speaking in Spanish, cultural facts about the Spanish language and Mexico, the words to a piñata song in both Spanish and English, and a fun craft activity making a mask. Also included is a full list of all the Spanish words used, along with their English translations in alphabetical order by chapter; this list would be more helpful in straight alphabetical order, not separated into chapters. 
The cute, colorful, hand-drawn illustrations throughout the text will appeal to children of all ages. They are supplemented by a few color photographs. 
The author presents a fun and innovative way for children to learn a new language. A pleasure to read. Un placer.

Lynda Dickson, BooksDirectOnLine

Perfect for anyone of any age learning Spanish. Visit New Places and Make new friends with Pete the Pilot and Panchito. Stories in English with Spanish words embedded, songs, art projects, vocabulary and more. This is a fun way to get exposure to the Spanish language.

Mia Wenjen, Pragmatic Mom Blog, Instagram