Tortillas and Lullabies/Tortillas y cancioncitas (Spanish Edition) [Hardcover]

Lynn Reiser (Author), Corazones Valientes (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 1998 | Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

In English and in Spanish, Lynn Reiser presents the Central American companion book to her Cherry Pies and Lullabies. Again, four generations of mothers and daughters participate in family traditions-this time within a Costa Rican culture in which they share such things as tortilla making and flower gathering. Extraordinary folk-art painting by "Corazones Valientes," an organization of women artists in Costa Rica, accompany this universal and unforgettable story of family love.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3?In this beautiful picture book, four everyday activities are depicted?making tortillas, gathering flowers, washing clothes, and singing a lullaby?as they are repeated by the women of a family over the last four generations. A little girl relates the simple text as her great-grandmother is shown making tortillas for her grandmother over an outdoor fire, her grandmother makes them for her mother in a farm kitchen with a cast-iron stove, her mother is shown cooking for her in a modern kitchen, and the child prepares paper tortillas for her doll on a toy stove. Each activity shares the refrain: "Every time it was the same, but different." The timeless quality of maternal love is evident throughout. Six Costa Rican women worked together to produce the striking acrylic folk-art paintings. With deeply saturated, glowing tones and a decidedly Central American style, the pictures enhance and extend the lyrical narrative, which is printed in English and in Spanish. The words and music of a traditional Spanish lullaby are appended. A lovely, nostalgic glimpse at Central American family life.?Denise E. Agosto, formerly at Midland County Public Library, TX
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 3^-7. Three generations of women (and a doll) give and receive tortillas, dresses, flowers, and lullabies. "My great-grandmother made tortillas for my grandmother; my grandmother made tortillas for my mother; my mother made tortillas for me; and I made tortillas for my doll." Each chapter ends with the phrase "Every time it was the same, but different." The words appear in English at the top of each page and in Spanish at the bottom. This gently celebrates the small daily gifts that mothers and daughters exchange, and by making the girl in each picture about the same age, Reiser shows how traditions continue generation after generation. The illustrations, attributed to Corazones Valientes in the book's imprint, were actually done collaboratively by six women who live in Costa Rica. They are painted in a folk art style, in rich colors glowing with intensity. Pair this with Betsy Hearne's Seven Brave Women. Susan Dove Lempke

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1st edition (April 14, 1998)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0688146287
• ISBN-13: 978-0688146283
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Explore the World > Central & South America
  • #55 in Books > Libros en español > Literatura y ficción > Latino Americana

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Love the story behind the story, January 24, 2010

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This review is from: Tortillas and Lullabies/Tortillas y cancioncitas (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

I'll admit that at first glance this seems like a nice simple story about a mother and daughter who love each other.

But after reading an article about the writing and illustrating of this book, I found it to be so much more. I now think of it as something that truly shows cultural differences.

It seems that the author had recruited some ladies from Costa Rica to do the illustrations for this book and when it came to the cooking part, she wanted them to draw a picture of a mother taking something out of the microwave. The ladies refused to do it. "But what if the mother has been working all day and is too busy to make a real meal" she said. "Then another relative would have to make the meal" they said. It seems the argument went back and forth until the ladies gave back the money they had been given to do the project and refused to have anything else to do with it until the mother was shown making fresh tortillas and not a microwaved burrito.

I love that story and the idea that it portrays that Mothers love their daughters and want the best for them. Not something fast and easy (although we all realize that that is going to happen sometimes) but something that takes a little time and effort and shows that they truly do care for them in a special way.

That is why I love this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars "This is a book about everyday love.", September 22, 2006

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tortillas and Lullabies/Tortillas y cancioncitas (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

The author writes with ease of deeds performed by one generation after another, the text of the story written in the language of love, as each tends to the needs of the next, passing along ritual and tradition from great-grandmother to grandmother to mother to daughter. No matter what the effort, making tortillas, gathering flowers, washing dresses, or singing lullabies: "Each time it was the same, but different." Accompanied with the simple, yet profound bilingual text, the artwork is striking, memorable for its vivid color and imagination, all the images created by a group of artists, the "Corazones Valientes" ("Valiant Hearts"), six women from nineteen to forty-two who first showed their exhibit of art in a Puerto Rican farming village from 1989-1992.

Supplemented by the striking artwork, the generational concept is beautifully rendered, this oversized gem a treasure, either teaching a youngster the nature of familial love or for those adults who are never too old to appreciate the uncompromising beauty of gifted artists in support of a universal theme. An elegant, stunning picture book with bilingual text, this tale is for young and old alike. Luan Gaines/2006.