Searches

Known for his bilingual retelling of the ghost story La Llorona, the Weeping Woman (1987), Hayes now delights with his bilingual version of a tale featuring southwestern bogeyman el Cucuy. With his big, red left ear that can hear when children are misbehaving, el Cucuy comes down from his mountain to carry away bad children. A father calls el Cucuy on his two daughters who are tormenting their little sister, but the disbelieving girls mockingly holler, Cucu-u-u-uy, Cucu-u-u-uy! El Cucuy, his big red ear glowing in the evening light, carries the sisters away to the deepest, darkest corner of his mountain cave. The regretful father searches for his daughters, but it is a young goatherd who eventually reunites the family. And, in Hayes' classic conclusion: From that day on those two girls were the most polite and helpful girls living in that little town. Robledo's primitive-style illustrations done in expressive swathes of garish colors are gleefully nightmarish, featuring frightened children and monstrous dogs. Not the book for truly timid tots, but this masterfully told story belongs in the hands of those scoffing, hard-case customers who challenge you to find them a really scary story. Gr 2-4-This bilingual retelling is a welcome addition for Spanish speakers who may recognize the bogeyman as el Cucuy. He is described as a gigantic old man with a humped back and a large, red left ear that can hear everything (on the cover el Cucuy's right ear is shown as red and huge). The legend goes that "Sometimes he comes down from his cave in the mountains to carry bad children away." A father, troubled by his two eldest daughters' disobedience and laziness, calls out toward the mountains "`aCucuy! aCucuy! Baja para llevarte a estas malcriadas.' Come and get these bad girls." The girls make fun of their father's belief in a bogeyman, and what happens next is not surprising-el Cucuy comes to get them and carries them away to his cave. In the end, the remorseful girls are reunited with their father. The vividly colored illustrations add much to the tale, especially the characters' large eyes, which give an eerie feel to the story. The note at the end is a wonderful resource on the history of this folktale.-Diane Olivo-Posner, Long Beach Public Library, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.