La Llorona: The Weeping Woman: An Hispanic Legend Told in Spanish and English [Paperback]

Joe Hayes (Author), Vicki Trego Hill (Illustrator)

Book Description

The best known folk story of Hispanic America tells of a beautiful young woman who thinks she must marry the most handsome man in the world.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up - This legendary tale is not only a spine-tingling ghost story, but also a cautionary tale about a breathtakingly lovely, working-class girl. All of the local gallants have their eyes on María, but she feels that she's destined for better things. Accordingly, she holds out for a wealthy and dashing young ranchero who lives nearby. She plays hard to get, and the ploy is successful. Marriage and two children follow, but her husband is increasingly disenchanted with her. He even "talked of setting María aside and marrying a woman of his own wealthy class." María vents her jealousy and anger on her own children; she pushes them into the river, where they drown. Her remorse is immediate and useless. She cannot save them, and she dies of her grief. But her ghost lingers on, crying for the youngsters and willing to take any stray child she finds by the side of the river alone. Textually simpler than Joe Hayes's longer version of the same story in The Day It Snowed Tortillas/El día que nevaron tortillas (Cinco Puntos, 2003), this pared-down story packs a punch in both English and the author's fluid Spanish translation. The earth-tone, pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations make use of cross-hatching to create an eerie, almost graphic-novel sensibility that extends the story ably. A solid retelling of a classic tale.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

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Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press; Bilingual edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0938317024
• ISBN-13: 978-0938317029
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,462,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers--a nationally recognized teller of tales from the Hispanic, Native American and Anglo cultures. His bilingual Spanish-English tellings have earned him a distinctive place among America's storytellers. His books, CDs and tapes of Southwestern stories are popular nationwide. Born in Pennsylvania, Joe Hayes moved as a child to a small town in southern Arizona, some fifty miles from the Mexican border. From Mexican-American friends and schoolmates he began to acquire a knowledge of Spanish and an appreciation for Hispanic culture. As an adult, his experience with Spanish helped him find work doing mineral exploration in Mexico and Spain. When Joe moved to New Mexico in 1976, he first taught high school English, but his interest in the rich folklore of the region was already growing. He enjoyed sharing stories with his own children so much that he decided to shape a career for himself as a storyteller. Joe gathered traditional stories of the Southwest, added a little of his own spice and hit the road, traveling all over to share his stories. He has captured the imagination of children in schools all over the United States. In 2005, Joe received the Talking Leaves Literary Award from the National Storytelling Network, an award given to members of the storytelling community who have made considerable and influential contributions to the literature of storytelling. Joe has taught storytelling to teachers at the University of New Mexico and been a guest lecturer at many colleges and universities, delivering the commencement address for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at U.C.L.A. He was designated a New Mexico Eminent Scholar by the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education, and in 1995 he received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence. Joe began sharing his stories in print in 1982. His books have received many awards including the Arizona Young Readers Award, two Land of Enchantment Children's Book Awards, and an Aesop Accolade Award. Joe's books have also been on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List three times, and Ghost Fever--selected by Texas school children--won the Texas Bluebonnet Award for 2006-2007, the first bilingual book to achieve that distinction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting tale, recommended for older children, February 13, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Llorona / The Weeping Woman (English and Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

La Llorona: The Weeping Woman by Joe hayes is a bilingual picturebook in English and Spanish that presents a classic Hispanic legend. The shaded and emotional color illustrations by Vicki Trego Hill and Mona Pennypacker add an ominous touch to the dark folklore of a weeping ghost woman always searching for her children - and if little ones aren't careful, she might mistake any child for her lost babies! La Llorona is not a happy tale; it imagines the life of a beautiful and proud young woman, who married the man she loved and bore his children, yet who turned jealous when her husband became cold and distant. He rarely came near her, and only appeared to take interest in her children when he did. A bitter rage consumed La Llorona, causing her to cast her own children in the river; shortly after, she realized what she had done, and her own life ended in grief and remorse. La Llorona is a haunting tale, recommended for older children and faithful to the roots of the ghost story it is based upon.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy the Hard Cover Book forget about the paperback!, February 15, 2005

By 

K. Ramirez (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Llorona: The Weeping Woman: An Hispanic Legend Told in Spanish and English (Paperback)

I really liked the illustrations in the hardcover book so I bought the paperback. What a rip off! The book is the size of a leaflet and the illustrations are done in two color tones only. The story is the same but the paper back's quality does not compare to the hardcover. Believe me spend the extra money and buy the hardcover.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, March 31, 2001

By 

"azteca_indio" - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Llorona: The Weeping Woman: An Hispanic Legend Told in Spanish and English (Paperback)

As a child I grew up hearing that if I stay out to late that "La Llorona" would get me and mistake for one of ther childern and take me away forever. This book tells of the story of a young girl that thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and that no man in her village was good enough for her, that was until a hansome caballero rode into the village and married her. He treat good for the first months of the marrige they had childern and then he left her for a younger woman, her beauty had faded over the years as a result of this, blined by her anger she grabed all her children and throught them into the river and killed them. Once she reliazed what she had done, she ran down the river trying to get them back and triped over a rock and hit her head and died. I enjoyed this story and found it intersting that is tale is very true.