Customer Reviews

Las Huellas Secretas (Spanish Edition)

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I am an American editor/writer married to a Dominican. I became a fan of Julia Alvarez's literary works while taking an English class on immigrant fiction. When I learned that she had written a children's book, Las Huellas Secretas (The Secret Footprints), I was thrilled. I immediately purchased a Spanish version copy to take to my seven-year-old niece in the Dominican Republic.

Alvarez draws from Dominican folklore in her tale of the "ciguapas," a mythological race that lives under the sea and comes to land only at night, after we humans go to sleep. The heroine of the story, Guapa, succumbs to her curiosity about human beings, comes ashore in the daytime, and is discovered by a picnicing family. What she eventually learns is that preconceived notions about those different than us aren't always true--that, sometimes, even those older and wiser than us (in Guapa's case, the Ciguapa queen) harbor prejudices that turn out to be wrong.

As for my niece, she loved the friendship theme (between Guapa and a human boy) and the lush, richly colored illustrations. She had fun practicing her reading skills and, although challenged by some of the vocabulary, never got bored.

I recommend this book for all Spanish-language children interested in folklore, especially readers of Dominican heritage.

this was one of the title recommend to my son, it was good election because, he understands spanish, but doesn't write it, and he was able to read it without too many questions. Easy to understand and the vocabulary is not as basic as other books, but an 8 years old can handle it