Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

Here’s why my kids like this book: it has a rooster, a talking goat, and a fire. (I have three boys ages 5 and under. They are easily entertained.)

However, I don’t want to discount the beauty of this simple story. It’s a Cuban folktale retold, about a bossy rooster going to his uncle’s wedding. Along the way, the rooster dirties his beak, then tries to persuade a series of characters, from fellow animals to a blade of grass and a stick, to help him clean it. No one will pitch in until the sun, who owes the rooster a favor, obliges.

If there’s a moral here  — it is a story about a bully after all — I overlook it to have fun with the repetitive phrases sprinkled throughout the text. (There’s a lot of room to imitate characters’ voices too, if you like.)

I also love the illustrations. Anyone who has lived in or visited Miami can recognize the streets of Little Havana in the background.

Like many Cuban children, the author of this book  remembers hearing her grandmother tell her this story at night in the “impenetrably” dark and quiet countryside. Her retelling evokes that same feeling, one I’m always happy to share with my city slicking kids.

    BOOK DETAILS

    Title: El Gallo de Bodas

    Author: Lucia M. Gonzalez

    Illustrator: Lulu Delacre

    Age group: 3-5 years

    Publisher/Year: Scholastic/1994

    ISBN: 978-0439067577

    Price: $4.89 on Amazon.com

On any given night, you will find my husband, Toño, narrating leyendas and mitos to our four children before putting them to bed: the history of the escudo on the Mexican flag, the story of the hare outsmarting the coyote, stories from the Bible, or even Aesop’s fables. La llorona, David and Goliath, and Juan Diego and la Vírgen de Guadalupe trump Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood when Papi tells — and acts out — these traditional stories.

Instead of choosing to read from books, my husband’s favorite way to calm the kids down is to snuggle on the couch and reveal detailed stories with strong characters, and always a moraleja (moral). Besides bonding with Papi and enriching their vocabulary, what I love about these nighttime sessions is that my kids are (subconsciously!) learning cultural nuances and values.

Toño’s not alone; Mexican culture (and Latin American culture in general) has a strong oral tradition. Unlike some cultures, who use stories in books as a way to teach literacy skills, often times traditional Latin culture will use storytelling for a different purpose. Older family members pass down morals, values and expectations, to the youngest listeners as they retell popular folklore. In my husband’s family, his dad used anecdotes and fables that his dad passed down to him to teach his children important values.  Throughout the generations, families preserve cultural and family values and traditions as they tell how heroes and villains make their fateful decisions, allowing us to learn from their successes and mistakes.

Thousands of years ago — before there were written books available — every country of the world had tales of good versus evil, dramatic love stories, and overcoming oppression as components of their oral tradition. The stories served as inspiration, reinforced national identity, and taught important lessons to the youth.

Not only stories, but oral tradition also includes many aspects of folk culture: folktales, legends, corridos (stories put to music — such as Los Tigres del Norte’s songs of today), poetry, rhymes, riddles, refranes (proverbs), and even jokes! People enjoy repeating stories that teach their children cultural expectations. In the process, storytellers develop the creativity and communicative competence to turn storytelling into an art form.

In addition to folktales, my husband and his family pepper their conversation with jokes, refranes, and anecdotes of personal experience. These short, cultural sound bytes are a summary of popular wisdom that serve as helpful advice, given in a way that everyone can understand. Here are some dichos I have heard my husband use:

• Someone’s not paying attention and they miss their turn: “Camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente” (if you’re asleep or not paying attention, you’ll miss out; value: don’t be lazy).
• We forget something essential on a picnic or camping trip: “Hombre prevenido vale por dos” (you’ll be more effective if you plan; value: be prepared).
• The kids really wish we could get the latest Wii game: “A Dios rogando, y con el mazo dando” (instead of wishful thinking, work towards your goals; value: hard work).
• Your son didn’t get a turn at the game: “Al que no habla, Dios no lo oye” (similar to “the squeaky wheel gets the grease;” value: speak up for yourself).
• When our kids want to become better soccer players, better readers, or better at violin: “El que persevera, alcanza” (if you really want to achieve your goals, you need to try, and try again).

Whether you learn some Spanish folktales and dichos, or you simply share stories of your childhood, you can incorporate cultural lessons and pass on your family’s values to your children through oral tradition. Parents that spend time communicating with and engaging their children will reap immeasurable benefits: from improving their Spanish to guiding them to make better decisions.

But most of all, spending time together will create memories that they’ll remember when they gather their own children at night and continue these meaningful oral traditions.

In this beautifully illustrated book, a ranchero (Don Ignacio) makes a bet that his capataz – ranch hand – is incapable of telling a lie, which is why he trusts him with his valuable apple tree. A skeptical friend, Don Arturo, tries desperately to cause the capataz, whom they call Juan Verdades, to stray from the truth so that he can win Don Ignacio’s ranch. Complications arise when Don Arturo’s daughter and Juan Verdades fall in love. In the end, the story comes full circle: la verdad reigns and no one loses.

Originally a Spanish tale from the early 2oth century, Juan Verdades is retold by Joe Hayes in a way that is easier to follow than traditional folktales. Like other bilingual books, this one has the full English and Spanish prose on each page, making it simple to understand, no matter your level in either language. The flow of events and gorgeous paintings hold even a young child’s attention.

Read Juan Verdades to yourself to learn new Spanish vocabulary or share it with children of any age. Visit La Tiendita to order your copy of this quality bilingual book.

THE GIVEAWAY

We’re giving away a copy of Juan Verdades: The Man Who Could Tell a Lie. To enter this giveaway, please share with us the name of your favorite folktale or legend.

This giveaway ends at midnight EST on Monday, June 27, 2011. Entries/Comments that do not follow the submission guidelines will be invalid and automatically deleted. Sorry, just need to keep it fair. Good luck to all!

Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Chelsea Kyle is SpanglishBaby’s Book Editor and a regular contributor. A 24-year-old single mother with a 3-year-old son, Isaiah, she lives in Orlando, works as a private tutor (www.habitofexcellence.com), and uses the ML@H method, although she is not a native Spanish speaker.