Había una vez
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Marirosa Mia: Our second guest reviewer! I’m so excited, and we
even went to the same school! Yes, Puerto Rico is very small… so what? I’m also
very excited that she’s reviewing one of my favorite childhood collections. But
I’ll let Salome take it from here.
Salome: For my first review of books in Spanish, I wanted
to go back to the classics, which in my case means the books we were forced to
read in grade school. I looked at a couple of them and found them to be completely
inappropriate or plain boring. And then I remembered Había una vez... - yes, Once Upon a Time....
It is, as one may
expect from the title, a collection of fairy tales. There's La gallinita dorada (it's The Little Red
Hen, but I guess she has a golden tan in the tropics), El Gato con botas (Puss N' Boots), Juanito y Margarita (guess!, yes, Hansel and Gretel) and El pollito
pito (Chicken Little), to name a few. But there are also some awesome Caribbean
classics like La cucarachita Martina (Martina,
the Little Cockroach), which I somehow could recite by heart at age 2 to my parents’
bragging delight. It also has riddles, starting with the traditional Adivina, adivinador (Guess, guesser),
popular songs like ¡Qué llueva! (May
It Rain!), and gives kids a peek at some great Spanish language authors, with
poems by Lope de Vega, Federico García Lorca, Amado Nervo, and Juana de
Ibarbourou.
I had not seen
the book in 35 years, until one of my sisters sent a copy to my
Spanish-language-challenged kids. The book had since lost its hard cover
to a more price-efficient paperback form, but everything else remained the
same. And I remembered every bit of it - its awesome retro illustrations and
selections - as if I had owned it all along.
I believe that
what makes it so special is that the stories are written in plain Spanish -
well, as plain as Spanish can be - and that the writing is the closest thing to
a Pan American Spanish – something like Univision Spanish - that kids in any
Latin American country can understand and follow easily. That is often not the
case with children's books, particularly if they are published in Spain. In
my children's case in particular, I love the fact that they include such
straightforward Spanish versions of the stories they know so well in English.I find it hard to
pick a favorite from this awesome treasure, but if I must, I guess I'll go with
La cucarachita Martina, because of
its Caribbean origins and originality. It is the story of a hardworking
female cockroach - the authors like to point out from the start that she is
also very clean - that finds a coin while sweeping the stoop of her house. After
pondering what people would say if she bought this or that, she decides to
purchase a box of scented powder, which she immediately puts on before sitting
at her doorstep. They never tell you what the powder smells like or what it's
made of, but somehow it launches one of the most intense and hilarious marriage
proposal scenes in the history of world literature - forget The Bachelorette!
Cucarachita chooses Ratoncito Pérez - a quiet mouse - for her husband, but not
all ends well. I won't give away the ending, except to say that it is a
bit morbid and, thankfully for us and for the lovebirds - well, insect and
rodent - things get resolved in another story in the book. The story, like so many
classic children's tales, feeds on gender role stereotypes and marriage obsession,
among other evils, but it offers a few twists that redeem the heroine. The
second story also offers a wonderful lesson on the healing and reviving powers
(hint, hint) of good will and cooperation.
Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado! (That's a longish, yet musical way to say, The
End!)
M: That was great! I might hit your sister up for a
copy for my future kids!
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