¡Mira Look!: Fiesta Femenina, Celebrating Women in Mexican Folktale

Saludos todos! Welcome to this month’s first blog post! Throughout the month of March we will be celebrating Women’s History Month by focusing our attention on wonderful women in history, literature and our every-day lives. More specifically, this month we will feature books about female icons in Latin America, the representation of women in indigenous folklore, and the every-day experiences of female protagonists in works of children’s literature. These books will celebrate the life and role of women in societies across the Americas, and the enduring inspiration of women’s history. Furthermore, with this month’s theme, we aim to diversify our understanding of Women’s History Month by focusing on timeless female icons and heroic activists, but also on the every-day women who have sustained life, love and culture over the years. Women worthy of recognition are all around us and this month we celebrate their infinite contributions.

We are starting the month off with Fiesta Femenina, Celebrating Women in Mexican Folktale, written by Mary-Joan Gerson and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. In this collection, Gerson has compiled a series of Mexican folktales, drawing from Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Yaqui traditions. The tales have been selected for their strong female protagonists, in an effort to highlight the role of women in Mexican folklore. Gerson explains her intentions in the introduction of the book:

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¡Mira, Look!: La Llorona

Since the spooky time of year is approaching, it would only be appropriate we include a book about one of the spookiest tales of Hispanic America as well as the American southwest: la llorona, or the weeping woman. This week, we will be reviewing Joe Hayes’ La Llorona/ The Weeping Woman. This book, which is best suited for kids in grades four to eight, is bilingual and can be used for non-native Spanish speakers who are starting out.