review

Tangram: Un Ropecabezas Chino Para Todos
by Berta Alicia Chen P.
Editorial Management Development Corp (Panama 2002)
72 pages, $6.95 in paperback

So why review a Spanish-language book in this newspaper’s English section? First, because The Panama News readership is largely bilingual, and second, because the language in this little book is largely beside the point.

The point of this book is five right triangles of varying shapes, a square and a parallelogram, a puzzle that dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century in China. With various configurations of these pieces, two sets of which are provided with the book, it is possible to make hundreds of figures, numbers and letters.

Figuring out how to do that is an exercise in spatial reasoning that, when done by toddlers and preschoolers, will help them learn to read. Older kids will get a leg up on geometry through these puzzles. Kids and adults of all ages can have endless hours of fun playing with these shapes. All of this is without regard to the verbal part of this book, just using the puzzles and the diagrams, and checking the problems against the solutions shown in the back.

For those of you who are learning Spanish, the 48 pages written by Berta Alicia Chen, a Panamanian with an MBA from the University of Oklahoma and one of this country’s more diverse and prolific writers, add up to a good exercise as well.

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