Not your average children's books
Argueta's new stories will have kids thinking
El Paso Times Staff
Children's author Jorge Argueta, whose folktales and allegories have delighted young readers since his 2001 debut, has added two new bilingual titles to his already formidable body of work: "La Gallinita en la Ciudad/The Little Hen in the City" and "La Fiesta de las Tortillas/The Fiesta of the Tortillas" (both Alfaguara, $14.95 hardcover). Argueta's two stories feature his native El Salvador, and in each, a young protagonist is beginning to make important connections between self, family and the cultural imagination they inhabit.
In "The Little Hen in the City" (illustrated by Mima Castro), Natalia is awakened by the rain, which reminds her of her ancestral homeland. In the middle of this nostalgic reverie, a guinea hen appears, wet and dejected in the cold weather. The young girl comes to an immediate conclusion: "I was sure that my grandfather had turned into a guinea hen and had come to see me!"
What follows is a series of mishaps as Natalia sets out to rescue the hen, enlisting her mother, best friend Samuel and a kindly gas station attendant in the process. Her mission becomes personal, since she believes that by ensuring the animal's safety, she is somehow honoring Grandpa Rubén.
Perhaps it is ironic that the only way to save the guinea hen from the dangers of an American city is by locking it up in the zoo, and when the hen's sadness about its incarceration is lifted only when Natalia visits, Argueta seems to offer a startling critique about displacement and survival.
"The Fiesta of the Tortillas"(illustrated by María Jesús Alvarez) reads like a memoir, complete with a protagonist named Jorge, like the author. But this story is actually about Aunt Julia, the humorless matron who presides over the family business, an eatery in El Salvador.
One by one, young Jorge's aunts and female cousins are subjected to a supernatural encounter -- the pre-dawn sounds of hands in the middle of their labor. The women "sat down at a table to try to figure out who could be the woman, man, spirit or ghost that came early in the morning to make tortillas with such a cheerful rhythm."
But it's not until Aunt Julia picks up the task of resolving the mystery that the visitor claims a purpose. Once Aunt Julia learns that the other women are more afraid of her than of "the Spirit of the Corn," she decides that the signs from the unknown are an opportunity to change the rigorous work environment her stalwart ways had created.
The lessons imparted by Argueta's stories are challenging and not the typical lighthearted fare found in other children's books. Families should take great pleasure in both the colorful illustrations and in the conversations about heritage and history that "The Little Hen in the City" and "The Fiesta of the Tortillas" are sure to inspire.
Rigoberto González is an award-winning writer living in New York City. His Web site is at www.rigobertogonzalez.com, and he may be reached at [email protected]
