TWO·DOS
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01 · Tony · English

TWO Children Share TWO Languages

Hear Tony tell his story in English!

02 · Diana · Español

DOS Idiomas Únen a DOS Niños

¡Escucha a Diana en español!

Scroll or tap the book to flip it over

A note to readers, young and old

Being bilingual
is a gift.

It’s a good thing, but at first the children in this book didn’t know it. They had to discover it. Tony enjoyed the fun and affection Spanish brought him at home, but didn’t see any need for it at school. Diana was afraid that if she learned English, she would lose her Spanish.

So the book has two covers. Each child gets their own side, and their own language, to tell it.

03 · Two sides, one story

Read both sides at once

Tony’s story comes down from his cover. Diana’s rises up from hers. Keep scrolling until they meet. Curious about the other language? Tap ↻ on any page.

Tony 1

Hi. I’m Tony. I used to have a secret.

Tony 1 · traducción

Hola. Soy Tony. Yo tenía un secreto.

Tony 2

I didn’t want to be different from my friends, so I never let them know that I speak Spanish.

Tony 2 · traducción

No quería ser diferente de mis amigos, así que nunca les dejé saber que hablo español.

Tony 3

Mis abuelitos y mis dos tías Diana y María don’t speak English. So, I speak with them in Spanish, en español.

Tony 3 · traducción

Mis abuelitos y mis dos tías Diana y María no hablan inglés. Así que hablo con ellos en español.

Tony 4

When my cousins come from Puerto Rico and Chile, we play games just like at school, except we play them en español!

Tony 4 · traducción

Cuando mis primos vienen de Puerto Rico y Chile, jugamos como en la escuela, ¡pero en español!

Tony 5

Then, one day, a few weeks after school started, a new girl came into our class.

Tony 5 · traducción

Un día, unas semanas después de empezar las clases, llegó una niña nueva a nuestra clase.

Tony 6

She showed me a really beautiful marble that she had in her pocket.

Tony 6 · traducción

Me mostró una bolita muy bonita que tenía en el bolsillo.

Tony 7

After a while, we decided to make a game for everyone with two of everything. We called it “The Power of TWO.”

Tony 7 · traducción

Después de un tiempo, decidimos crear un juego para todos con dos de todo. Lo llamamos “El Poder de DOS”.

Diana 1

Estaba emocionada por mi primer día en la nueva escuela, hasta que llegué allí.

Diana 1 · translation

I was excited about my first day at the new school, until I got there.

Diana 2

Mi ropa era diferente, mi pelo también. Nadie se parecía a mí.

Diana 2 · translation

My clothes were different, my hair too. Nobody looked like me.

Diana 3

No quería que nadie me preguntara qué me pasaba. Quería ser invisible.

Diana 3 · translation

I didn’t want anyone to ask me what was wrong. I wanted to be invisible.

Diana 4

¿Qué tal si aprendiera inglés y ya no pudiera hablar español? Hasta mi perro Paco solo habla español.

Diana 4 · translation

What if I learned English and couldn’t speak Spanish anymore? Even my dog Paco only speaks Spanish.

Diana 5

Pero un niñito lo entendió. Pudo decir mi nombre y mi país.

Diana 5 · translation

But one little boy understood. He could say my name and my country.

Diana 6

Y intentamos jugar a las bolitas. Él no lo hacía muy bien. Le tuve que enseñar todo.

Diana 6 · translation

And we tried to play marbles. He wasn’t very good. I had to teach him everything.

Diana 7

Ya no me daba cuenta si hablábamos español, inglés, o los dos idiomas.

Diana 7 · translation

I couldn’t tell anymore if we were speaking Spanish, English, or both.

All the children holding hands in a circle

19 · The middle of the book

“In one world, with more languages, we can all play together.”

“¡Jugamos a la rueda hasta que no pudimos más!”

04 · A game for the whole class

The Power of TWO

One eye

Two eyes

→ you see better and farther

One leg

Two legs

→ you run faster

One hand

Two people

→ now you can clap

One language

Two languages

→ we understand each other more

“To clap with one hand, you need TWO PEOPLE.”

05 · Meet the storytellers

Tony playing soccer with his cousins

Tony

Warm · Playful · Keeps a secret

Tony speaks Spanish with his abuelitos and plays games en español with his cousins, but at school, he kept it a secret. Until a new girl needed someone who could speak both.

Diana at the door of her new school

Diana

Shy · Brave · Carries a marble

Diana arrives from Puerto Rico speaking only Spanish. Afraid that English will replace it, she closes herself off, until a boy says her name the right way, and she teaches him how to play marbles.

06 · The author

Barbara Zurer Pearson

For more than 35 years, Barbara studied how children grow up with two languages, at the University of Miami and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She wrote Raising a Bilingual Child for parents. This book is for the children themselves.

  • Raising a Bilingual Child Random House / Living Language
  • Nurturing Very Young Children Who Experience More Than One Language WestEd
  • TWO Children Share TWO Languages 2025 · her first picture book
0+years researching bilingual children
2covers, one book
19pages each. They meet on the last one

“Two languages don’t divide a child. They double what a child can give to the world.”

07 · For grown-ups

It isn’t hard.
But it doesn’t happen by itself.

Diana and Tony had the two things children most need to learn two languages: a desire, or a need, to use each language, and people speaking it with them in an encouraging environment.

For families

  1. Speak both languages at home. Don’t let one become a stranger.
  2. Read Tony’s side, then flip the book and read Diana’s. Talk about what each one noticed.
  3. Ask: when did you feel like Diana? When did you feel like Tony?
  4. Mixing languages isn’t confusion. It’s creativity.

For educators

  • Language Games: K–3 worksheets PDF soon
  • Classroom Activities: marble games PDF soon
  • Ways of Reading: discussion paths PDF soon

Aligned with CCSS ELA, WIDA, and CASEL social-emotional learning.

Invite Barbara to your school →