Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Renowned storyteller Hayes retells thirteen Cuban folktales in both English and Spanish, with facing pages presenting the English version on one side and the corresponding Spanish on the other. Folklore fans will find many of the stories' elements familiar: tricksters abound, characters both good and bad receive their just rewards, and families are happily reunited. Elements more specific to Cuban culture are also present, as in the stories that feature the Orishas, the holy ones of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería. The accessibility of Hayes' vivid but streamlined language coupled with the rock-solid structure of the stories themselves (replete with the repetition and building of tension that tellers and listeners rely on) make this accessible both to young readers and to storytellers and other adult readers-aloud. Humorous characters or situations (particularly evident in the last story, "You Can't Dance") further extend the entertainment value of the stories; brief songs appear [End Page 199] in almost every story, and in his introduction Hayes encourages tellers to invent their own melodies for them. Sayago's full-page paintings (one per story), painted in rich, saturated colors on what appear to be textured surfaces, offer stylized depictions of the tales' featured animals and people. There is no bibliography or glossary, but there is a useful introduction in which Hayes describes his motivation and the general processes he used to collect and adapt the tales; unfamiliar words are defined within or at the end of each story, and lively notes for each story appear at book's end.