Are you a cartoon fanatic? If you are, then most probably you know this young Hispanic girl who loves getting herself into exciting adventures. Well, who wouldn't know this girl named Dora Marquez? Every little kid knows her as the lead character in Dora the Explorer cartoon show featured in the Nickelodeon channel.



This cartoon show is intended for young viewers and no doubt these youngsters enjoy every moment watching it. It is an educational show that helps the viewers learn how to speak even simple Spanish words since the lead character speaks both English and Spanish. If your children are addicted to this show then more likely they'll beat you in speaking Spanish. You will be amazed on how great these young people are in composing their own sentences in Spanish just by watching the show. You better be one of these Dora fanatics soon if you don't want to be left behind.

Shows like this are the ones that young people should watch instead of those that showcase war and cruelty. Parents should support shows like this for their children, not just fun and entertainment but for educational as well.

Like any other cartoon show, Dora the Explorer features a lot of characters, not leaving Dora alone in her adventures. One of these characters is Boots, the little girl's best friend who is always with her on every adventure that she's into. He is a talking monkey who got his name from the red boots that he wears all the time.

In each episode, Swiper, a tricky masked fox tries to take an item from Dora or Boots. Dora and her friends should recover the stolen item for the successful completion of the day's quest. The recovery of the stolen item is sometimes the quest in itself so they really have to get the item back to finish the quest.

There's one way that the best friends can prevent the evil fox from stealing something from them, which is to repeat the phrase “Swiper, No Swiping!” three times. If they fail to do so Swiper will succeed in stealing an item from them and tell them that they are late while throwing the item far away.

Other characters include Dora's parents whom she calls Papi and Mami and her grandmother. There is also Dora's cousin Diego who rescues animals that are at risk and who also accompany her during her quests. Bilingual animals and some talking items complete the list of characters of the show.

Dora would often encourage the viewers to participate in her quest, sometimes by asking them if they have seen the evil fox or ask them to count along with her. This is what makes the show really great for children, not just about speaking Spanish is learned but it also allows the little ones to know some fundamentals of mathematics like counting and be familiar with the various kinds of music.

In 2000, the Dora the Explorer became a regular show on Nickelodeon and is still being produced there at the present. The show is aired around the world and has been translated to a lot of languages already including Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Dutch and many others. The Dora mania is really spreading all over the globe today so you better check it out now, don't be left behind!