Customer Reviews

Woman Who Outshone the Sun / La mujer que brillaba aún más que el sol (English/Spanish bilingual)

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When beautiful Lucia Zenteno arrives in town, no one knows how to treat her. Some people in the village thought that her hair blocked the sun. Mystery surrounded the girl. When she bathed in the river, her hair would soak up all the fish and water until she combed it out. The elders said told the people of the village to honor Lucia. They did not. People began mistreating Lucia. Lucia, however, did not return the unkindness of others. Finally, the people drove Lucia from the village. Before she left, Lucia visited the river once more. As Lucia went to comb her hair, the fish and the water stayed in her hair. She left the village without water. Realizing that they needed the river, the people tried to find Lucia to apologize. Eventually Lucia does return the water to the river but not without teaching the village people that "you must treat everyone with kindness, even those who seem different from you." This book is full of imagery! The illustrations are very beautiful. The author, Martinez, died tragically trying to help the Zapotec Indians with their water rights. This book is a great legend and is great for multi-cultural themes.

I periodically read this book to several children at work. I love that I can read it to them in English and in Spanish. They all love it. Even if they are too little to understand the moral of the story, they love the colorful pictures.