The Day It Snowed Tortillas / El Dia Que Nevaron Tortillas, Folktales told in Spanish and English

por Joe Hayes, Antonio Castro Lopez

Kids of all ages are always asking Joe Hayes, "How can it snow tortillas?" Well, now they’ll know where to find the answer—at long last, Joe’s signature book The Day It Snowed Tortillas is appearing in this new bilingual edition. Bloomsbury Review listed the original English-only edition as one of their fifteen all-time favorite children’s books. Our bilingual edition has all the original stories as they have evolved in the last twenty years of Joe’s storytelling. It also has new illustrations by award-winning artist Antonio Castro. Storytellers have been telling these stories in the villages of New Mexico since the Spanish first came to the New World over four hundred years ago, but Joe always adds his own nuances for modern audiences. The tales are full of magic and fun. In the title story, for instance, a very clever woman saves her silly husband from a band of robbers. She makes the old man believe it snowed tortillas during the night! In another story, a young boy gladly gives up all of his wages for good advice. His parents think he is a fool, but the good advice leads to wealth and a royal marriage. The enchantment continues in story after story—a clever thief tricks a king for his kingdom and a prince finds his beloved in a house full of wicked step-sisters. And of course, we listen again to the ancient tale of the weeping woman, La Llorona, who still searches for her drowned children along the riverbanks.

Lectores de todas las edades se deleitarán con estos cuentos mágicos. Por ejemplo, en la historia del titulo, una mujer muy astuta salva a su tonto esposo de una banda de rateros. ¡Le hace creer al viejo hombre que durante la noche nevaron tortillas! En otra historia, un niño con gusto intercambia todo su salario por un buen consejo. Sus padres creen que fue un tonto, pero el consejo lo lleva a tener riquezas y un matrimonio real. El encanto continua cuento a cuento: un ingenioso ratero engaña a un rey por su reino y un príncipe encuentra a su amada en una casa llena de hermanastras malvadas. Y claro, volvemos a escuchar la antigua historia de La Llorona que sigue buscando a sus hijos a la orilla del río.