"I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books."

Borges

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Day It Snowed Tortillas


The Day It Snowed Tortillas / El Dia Que Nevaron Tortillas, Folktales told in Spanish and English
Author: Joe Hayes
Illustrator: Antonio Castro Lopez
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
ISBN-10: 0938317768
ISBN-13: 978-0938317760

The Day It Snowed Tortillas
is a fantastic little collection of stories re-told by Joe Hayes. In the title story, a clever woman saves her husband from a bunch of bandits by making him believe that it snowed tortillas during the night. There are fun stories, scary ones and magical ones. I loved them all, but my favorite story was the one called Little Gold Star. Little Gold Star is a kind of Cinderella story about a kind little girl named Arcia and has two nasty, ill-behaved stepsisters. Arcia is follows the instructions of a hawk and gets a gold star on her forehead as a reward. Her sisters, being the rude girls that they are get a donkey ear and a green horn on their foreheads. The story made me laugh and laugh. Imagine being called oreja de burro! Too funny.

There’s a story of La Llorona in the book too. I love stories about La Llorona or the Weeping Woman and love to see other versions of the story.

Each story in the collection are adaptations of folktales from the New Mexico region. Joe Hayes puts his own unique spin on them and gives them a refreshing new feel. The Day It Snowed Tortillas is a unique and fun must have for any library.

About the Author:
Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He is especially recognized for his bilingual telling of stories from the Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico. Joe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels extensively throughout the United States, visiting schools and storytelling festivals.

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