The Day it Snowed Tortillas: Folktales told in English and Spanish by Joe Hayes

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.
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.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
Language: English, Spanish
ISBN-10: 0938317768
ISBN-13: 978-0938317760

What a fun fun book to read. This book contained funny and scary stories. Some that you knew were fake and others that taught a good lesson. I am a little confused as to the reading age: I wouldn't necessarily call this a YA novel, but I was assigned to read it as one, and after the class discussion will probably have more to add. For now, I would recommend this as a fun novel for all ages.

Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos

*Starred Review* In his first novel for young adults, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1987) proves himself to be a powerful, adept storyteller for teens. Rico, a Cuban American teen growing up in Harlem in the late 1960s, is tired—of working extra jobs to help his family; of the chaos and tragedy at school, where students are so inured to violence that, when classes close after a shooting, they behave “like it was suddenly a holiday”; of being hassled for his light skin and hair. When his parents threaten to send him to a military school in Florida, he runs away. Together with his best friend, Jimmy, who has just kicked a heroin habit, Rico hitchhikes to Wisconsin, where Gilberto, an older-brother figure from Harlem, has bought a farm that he shares with several hippie college students. In an unwavering, utterly believable voice, Rico details his midwestern year, in which he adjusts to rural life, falls in love, and pursues his comic-book-writing aspirations. Most of all, though, he searches for a sense of self, ultimately realizing that “where you are doesn’t change who you are.” Frank, gritty, vibrant, and wholly absorbing, Rico’s story will hold teens with its celebration of friendship and its fundamental questions about life purpose, family responsibility, and the profound ways that experience shapes identity. Grades 9-12. --Gillian Engberg

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Atheneum; 1 edition (September 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 141694804X
ISBN-13: 978-1416948049

I read this book as an assignment, and we all know what kind of attitude that can invoke. When I honestly saw the cover I was a little confused. I was a picture of a white kid with his back turned looking at graffiti! And of course, as I read the book I found that I fell into the typical person that makes Rico so upset. (turns out he isn't white) Definetly a book for the older grades - not something you would find me teaching in a 9th or 10th grade classroom.

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Amazon.com Review
Burdened with the pressure of believing she is responsible for her brother's illness, 15-year-old Callie begins a course of self-destruction that leads to her being admitted to Sea Pines, a psychiatric hospital the "guests" refer to as Sick Minds. Although initially she refuses to speak, her individual and group therapy sessions trigger memories and insights. Slowly, she begins emerging from her miserable silence, ultimately understanding the role her dysfunctional family played in her brother's health crisis.
Patricia McCormick's first novel is authentic and deeply moving. Callie suffers from a less familiar teen problem--she cuts herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. The hope and hard-won progress that comes at the conclusion of the novel is believable and heartening for any teen reader who feels alone in her (or his) angst. Along with Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and E.L. Konigsburg's Silent to the Bone, McCormick's Cut expertly tackles an unusual response to harrowing adolescent trouble. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter


Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Push; First Edition edition (February 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439324599
ISBN-13: 978-0439324595

Hmm, I think my recommendation for this novel is the same as the one I had for Speak and Distorted. This book covers a hard topic, but in a "nice" way. The author's approach to writing puts the reader in the therapist's seat, which could prove very helpful for someone who is reading this as the loved one and/or friend of a teen suffering from the same problems. A great approach to a tough topic!

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse and Marika Mashburn

Product Description
When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heartwrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring. This award winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental and emotional turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.

*review from Amazon.com*

Another great book, and a plesing approach to poetry. I am an English Major, but can I be honest and say that poetry and I just don't get along! And I have a feeling that I am not the only one out there. So as a lover/hater of poetry I might Have a connection with my students. This book will be a good way to bridge the gap between students (or yourself) and poetry. Just be prepared, the storyline in this one isn't for the weak!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Amazon.com Review
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
In the "ideal" world into which Jonas was born, everybody has sensibly agreed that well-matched married couples will raise exactly two offspring, one boy and one girl. These children's adolescent sexual impulses will be stifled with specially prescribed drugs; at age 12 they will receive an appropriate career assignment, sensibly chosen by the community's Elders. This is a world in which the old live in group homes and are "released"--to great celebration--at the proper time; the few infants who do not develop according to schedule are also "released," but with no fanfare. Lowry's development of this civilization is so deft that her readers, like the community's citizens, will be easily seduced by the chimera of this ordered, pain-free society. Until the time that Jonah begins training for his job assignment--the rigorous and prestigious position of Receiver of Memory--he, too, is a complacent model citizen. But as his near-mystical training progresses, and he is weighed down and enriched with society's collective memories of a world as stimulating as it was flawed, Jonas grows increasingly aware of the hypocrisy that rules his world. With a storyline that hints at Christian allegory and an eerie futuristic setting, this intriguing novel calls to mind John Christopher's Tripods trilogy and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Lowry is once again in top form--raising many questions while answering few, and unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers. Ages 12-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*review taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf (September 10, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440237688
ISBN-13: 978-0440237686


I know that this book is read by high school children across the continent...but I don't think I had ever joined the bandwagon until this year. As I read through The Giver it felt so familiar, I knew what was going to happen as I turned the page; but whether that knowledge was my super powers (which I rarely talk about) or the old memories of reading the book, I loved this book! (has there been a book yet that I haven't liked?) I can also see why this is such a popular novel for use in HS - it would make for some great discussions!

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-9–Napoli takes the elements of the traditional Chinese version of "Cinderella" and creates a powerful and moving story. Xing Xing is left to the mercy of her stepmother after the death of her father. Focusing on a good marriage for her own big-footed daughter, the woman binds the poor girl's feet even though she is past the usual age for this painful procedure. Xing Xing's only pleasure is her daily contact with a beautiful white carp in the pond where she draws water. To her, the fish seems to be the spirit of her mother helping her endure her difficult life. When the stepmother kills it, the girl is devastated, but she retrieves the bones from the garbage heap and, in the process of hiding them, discovers a green silk gown and gold slippers that belonged to her mother. Dressed in this rich garb, Xing Xing goes to the festival where she loses one slipper in her effort to escape detection. The slipper is eventually bought by an unconventional prince; when he finally finds its owner, Xing Xing considers her options and decides to marry him. Napoli retains the pattern of the traditional Chinese tale with only a few minor changes: she sets the story in the northern province of Shaanxi during the Ming dynasty rather than in a minority community in southern China. She fleshes out and enriches the story with well-rounded characters and with accurate information about a specific time and place in Chinese history; the result is a dramatic and masterful retelling.–Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 7-12. Drawing from traditional Chinese Cinderella stories, Napoli sets this tale in a small village during China's Ming period. Since her beloved father's death, Xing Xing has become "hardly more than a slave," serving her acrimonious stepmother and pitiable stepsister, Wei Ping, whose botched, bloody foot binding has left her perilously unwell. A dangerous trip in search of medicine for Wei Ping brings Xing Xing into the wider world, but she returns to find home more treacherous than before. Napoli creates strong, unforgettable characters--particularly talented, sympathetic Xing Xing--and her haunting, sometimes violent tale amplifies themes from well-known Western Cinderella stories, making them fascinating questions: Could ancestors serve as "fairy godmothers"? In a society that so grossly undervalues females, what does "happily ever after" really mean? Teens and teachers will want to discuss the layered themes of freedom, captivity, love, human rights, and creative endeavor within this powerful survival story, which, like the yin and yang forces Xing Xing thinks about, balances between terror and tenderness, and is both subversive and rooted in tradition. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*reviews taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (August 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689861788
ISBN-13: 978-0689861789

What a fun twist on an old fairy tale! One thing that I find so interesting is that no matter what culture you live in, the basis of the fairytale usually exist. We may call a character a Fairy Godmother, others may call that character the Spirit of an ancestor, but either way the spirit of the story stays the same. As the reviews state above, some of the retelling of this story is so vivd that you are actually there. But this was a book that I was able to read in between errands in the course of one day! A quick read and so so good!

Briar Rose - Jane Yolen

From Publishers Weekly
Windling's Fairy Tale series has produced several excellent fantasy novels inspired by classic fairy tales. This is one of the series's most ambitious efforts, and only a writer as good as Yolen ( Sister Light, Sister Dark ) could bring it off. Yolen takes the story of Briar Rose (commonly known as Sleeping Beauty) and links it to the Holocaust--a far-from-obvious connection that she makes perfectly convincing. Rebecca Berlin, a young woman who has grown up hearing her grandmother Gemma tell an unusual and frightening version of the Sleeping Beauty legend, realizes when Gemma dies that the fairy tale offers one of the very few clues she has to her grandmother's past. To discover the facts behind Gemma's story, Rebecca travels to Poland, the setting for the book's most engrossing scenes and its most interesting, best-developed characters. By interpolating Gemma's vivid and imaginative story into the larger narrative, Yolen has created an engrossing novel. She handles a difficult subject with finesse in a book that should be required reading for anyone who is tempted to dismiss fantasy as a frivolous genre.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this grim retelling of the classic fairy tale "Briar Rose," or "The Sleeping Beauty." In Yolen's modern-day version, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the sleeping princess is both victim and heroine. The latest in the "Fairy Tale" series showcases Yolen's skill at transforming the real world into a realm of fantasy. A good selection for adult and YA fantasy collections.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

*taken from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:

Reading level: Young Adult
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen (March 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0765342308
ISBN-13: 978-0765342300


After reading this novel, Bound, and The Witch's Boy, I have become a sucker for fairy tales retold! This book made a startling connection between Sleeping Beauty, (one of my favorite fairy tales) and the Holocaust. And even though I knew that this novel was a "Holocaust" novel, the entire time I read it I was enthralled. I had to know what would happen next, and I remember that the day I read it I was so happy the sun was out. I let my kids play on the playground for the 2 1/2 hours it took me to read the entire novel! Amazing writing and great talent. After reading this novel, I am definetly putting Jane Yolen on my list of must read authors!!