by Janine Schall, University of Texas-Pan American

When children see their lives represented in literature, it shows them that those lives are worth representing. This holds special importance when children come from cultures or areas that are historically isolated, overlooked, or oppressed. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of South Texas has been all three. Because of its rural and isolated location, in many ways the RGV has had closer connections with Mexico than with the rest of Texas or the United States. The mostly poor, Latino population has little political power and a mix of poverty, language issues, and the influx of undocumented immigrants has meant that people are reluctant to push for a better way of life.

Yet the RGV has been changing rapidly in the past decade with massive population growth, increased educational opportunities and a swelling middle class. Out of this change has arisen a group of authors who write children’s and young adult literature set in the RGV. While these authors don’t shy away from some of the harsher realities of life in the RGV, they mainly focus on stories that share the cultural and familial strengths of Valley life.

In last week’s post, I shared books by Rene Saldaña, who writes young adult and intermediate level literature set in the RGV. This week I’ll discuss works by Xavier Garza, an author whose books are wildly popular with local children. Garza grew up in Rio Grande City, the small county seat of Starr County in the western part of the RGV. He is currently a middle school teacher in San Antonio, but his books are set along the border.

Many of Garza’s works feature local folklore. His first book, Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys (2004) is a collection of traditional tales and South Texas ghost stories, which he was told as a child by his grandparents. Many Valley children are raised on cucuy stories, which are meant to be both scary and instructional. For generations, parents and grandparents have told stories about La Llorona, the chupacabras, and the Witch Owl in hopes of scaring their children into good behavior.

Garza returns to these traditional tales once again in a collection of stories called Kid Cyclone Fights the Devil and Other Stories/Kid Ciclón se enfrente a El Diablo y otras historias (2010) and in the picture books Zulema and the Witch Owl/Zulema y la Bruja Lechuza (2009) and Juan and the Chupacabras/Juan y el chupacabras (2006). All three books are bilingual. These original stories combine modern settings with traditional figures from RGV folklore. The two picture books also highlight the important role of los abuelos [grandparents] in RGV families.

Another aspect of life in the RGV that children will find represented in Garza’s books is the sport of lucha libre, or Mexican professional wrestling. Garza showcases it in two books, the picture book Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask, A Bilingual Cuento (2005) and the novel Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel/Maximiliano y el misterio del angel de la guarda (2011). In both of these bilingual books readers can cheer on the luchadores in their colorful masks and celebrate the strong family relationships so common in the RGV.

In his last book Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid (2008), Garza describes Santa Claus’s Mexican cousin, who helps deliver presents to children along the Texas/Mexico border. This book weaves aspects of Mexican and Mexican-American life into a story about helping Santa Claus complete his rounds on Christmas Eve.

References

Garza, X. (2004). Creepy creatures and other cucuys. Houston, TX: Piñata Books.

Garza, X. (2005). Lucha libre: The man in the silver mask. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Garza, X. (2006). Juan and the chupacabras/Juan y el chupacabras. Houston, TX: Piñata Books.

Garza, X. (2008). Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

Garza, X. (2009). Zulema and the Witch Owl/Zulema y la Bruja Lechuza. Houston, TX: Piñata Books.

Garza, X. (2010). Kid Cyclone fights the devil and other stories/Kid Ciclón se enfrenta a el diablo y otras historias. Houston, TX: Piñata Books.

Garza, X. (2011). Maximilian and the mystery of the guardian angel: A bilingual lucha libre thriller. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.

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• Themes: Janine Schall
• Descriptors: Student Connections, WOW Currents