Beato Goes to Brazil is a children’s book written by Sucheta Rawal and illustrated by Alexandra Abagiu and Oana Vaida. The 31-page book is hardcover with soft pages and retails for $14.95.

The book starts with the main character, Beato, a grey and white tabby cat, trying to get his older brother, a dog named Russo, to play with him. Russo says it is too cold and suggests Beato goes to Brazil where he can play on the beach.

Beato packs his bags, learns to say hello in Portuguese from his mom so he can make friends, and is off to the beaches of Brazil.

Once there he meets a girl named Amanda, who serves as his tour guide. She takes him all over Brazil teaching him about the country’s sports, food, animals, cities, lands, customs, and people.

There are a few Portuguese words sprinkled throughout the book with pronunciations given in parenthesis.

The illustrations are bright and compliment the story. They do a wonderful job in helping the child to visualize the aspects of the story being told.

After reading the book, my seven-year-old daughter said it made her want to visit Brazil. She liked looking at the pictures and learning about several aspects of Brazil. It was a good addition to our geography study.

Beato Goes to Brazil contains a plethora of information about Brazil in its thirty-one pages. It would best be used as an addition to a unit study on Brazil. While it gives a lot of information, there is not much depth to it. But as an overview, it works well.

It is going to appeal most to elementary-aged students.

I would recommend this book as an addition to a unit study or geography study about Brazil.

-Product review by Destiny Mawson, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August 2020