The Hummingbirds' Gift

When Consuelo saves the hummingbird's lives they, in return, show her how to save her family from the drought

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Richly colored art and an interesting layout distinguish this tale set in Mexico. During a drought, Isidro and his wife, Consuelo, watch their wheat crop die and worry about how they will feed their children. When Consuelo provides nectar for the starving hummingbirds, they show their gratitude by teaching her to weave bits of straw into tiny figures. Soon the whole family is weaving them to sell at the Day of the Dead festival, where they yield enough money to last all year. Rain finally comes, but the birds' gift has given the family a livelihood for generations to come, and a name for the village, Tzintzuntzan, which means "the place of the hummingbirds." A brief note describes the history of Tzintzuntzan and explains the customs surrounding the Day of the Dead, although it does not clarify whether the story is an authentic or an original folktale. Each page of this stunning book features a floral border. The characteristic flatness of the full-page, folk-art paintings is nicely balanced by the suggestion of texture in the straw figures that appear on each page of text. Endpapers are covered with straw figures as well. A visual feast.
Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Inspired by the Tarascan Indian custom of weaving delicate straw figures for holidays, this tale explains how the people of Tzintzuntzan, Mexico, learned to make them. A drought has reduced Isidro and Consuelo's crop of wheat to spindly straw. Concerned for the hummingbirds that flock in their village, they make tiny, brightly decorated pots resembling flowers and fill them with sugar-water for the birds; only then do they worry about their own children. The grateful birds show them how to weave lovely figures of straw, which they sell at the Day of the Dead festival, earning money for food. The economic logic here is flawed (only one family seems to be affected by the drought), but the story makes a showcase for handsome stylized art featuring intense colors and traditional motifs; best are the photos of straw weavings by Juliana Reyes de Silva and Juan Hilario Silva, which also enact the story. Note. (Picture book. 4-9) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5-8. Set in the Mexican village of Tzintzuntzan (once capital of the Tarascan Empire), this story tells of a terrible drought that dried up the flowers, the crops, and the river. A farmer's wife sees the hummingbirds dying and sets out sugar water in clay pots decorated to look like flowers. The grateful birds show her family how to make figures of people from woven straw, which the family then sells in the marketplace for the Day of the Dead festival and earns enough to live for a year. Naive in style and bright with colors, the richly patterned, gouache paintings appear within handsome flowered borders. The borders also enclose the text pages, which are highlighted with photographs of woven straw figures that help illustrate the story. Made by weavers of Tarascan Indian descent, these figures add an appealing dimension to the book. Pair this one with Ancona's Pablo Remembers , a photo-essay on the Day of the Dead. Carolyn Phelan