Senor Cat's Romance: And Other Favorite Stories from Latin America - Hardcover

Gonzalez, Lucia M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590485377 ISBN 13: 9780590485371

Publisher: Scholastic, 1997

Synopsis

Includes the stories of silly Juan Bobo, who challenges a three-legged pot to race him home; Martina, who conducts a zany search for the right husband; and four other popular characters from Latin America.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3. Six favorite Latin-American folktales, "cuentos favoritos," retold with skill and a light hand. Although variants may be found in other sources, it is a pleasure to have these appealing stories together in a form that will be enjoyed in the reading as well as in the telling. Small details, like the repetitious "Tipi-Tap-Tipi-Tap-Tipi-Tap" of the one-legged Medio-Pollito (Little Half-Chick) as he hops on his way to see the King, are a gift to storytellers. The simplicity and humor of lazy Juan Bobo who tires of carrying a pot that has three legs when he himself has only two, is perfect for very young listeners. In "Martina, the Little Cockroach," Ratoncito Perez (a mouse) survives an accident in a pot of onion soup. A foreword discusses the universality and the roots of these beloved tales; a brief note explains each story's background, theme, and connection to the author's childhood. In an artist's note, Delacre explains her choice of palette ("fresh and vivid") for her watercolor-and-gouache illustrations and the unifying detail of wrought-iron decorative borders. Her connection to the stories is expressed in touches like the inclusion of a recipe for arroz con pollo. Perhaps it is because these tales are so alive in the imagination and memory of both author and illustrator that they are rendered so lively and appealing in the retelling. An entertaining and carefully crafted resource.?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 1^-3, younger for reading aloud. Following The Bossy Gallito (1994), Gonzalez and Delacre introduce six more folktales popular throughout Latin America. Children will especially enjoy the rhyme and playful fun of the book's title story, in which new groom Senor Cat falls off the church roof and is revitalized by the aroma of sardines. They will also like Delacre's Cucarachita Martina (a most attractive cockroach), whom they may find as beguiling as the cockroach's many suitors find her to be. The art and text combine well to give the tales a strong sense of place, and both author and illustrator include notes, with Delacre pinpointing the source for her decorative wrought-iron-like borders in Latin American and Spanish architecture. Minimal Spanish is used, and a glossary follows each tale. Karen Morgan

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0590485377
• ISBN 13: 9780590485371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 46
• Illustrator: Delacre Lulu