Carmen Agra Deedy delivers this retelling of the Cuban folkltale. Martina the beautiful cockroach doesn’t know coffee beans about love and marriage. That’s where her Cuban family comes in. While some of the Cucarachas offer her gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her really useful advice.
- ISBN: 9781561454259
- Author: Deedy, Carmen Agra
- Illustrator: Austin, Michael
- Published: 2007 , Peachtree Pub Ltd (J)
- Themes: advice, Folktales and Fairytales, Grandmother
- Descriptors: Cuba, Early Years (ages 2-6), Folklore and Fairy Tales, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9), Pura Belpré
- No. of pages: 32
This Cuban folktale tells the story of a beautiful cockroach named Martina and her search for a suitable husband. Upon coming of age, Marina received some love advice from her grandmother. She was advised to test the true character of each of her suitors by spilling coffee on their shoes. After learning that Don Gaillo was too cocky, Don Cerdo was too boorish, and Don Largarto was too cold-blooded, Martina meets her true match; it seems he had been waiting in the garden just below the whole time.
This is a charming story with clever language and beautiful illustrations. Having suffered through three ill-matched suitors, the reader is rooting for Marina in the end. She and her sweet Perez seem to deserve one another. Such a lovely book!