Mexico

Materials from Mexico

Joy to the World!: Christmas Stories from around the Globe

All over the world, there is a wealth of fascinating traditions and legends surrounding the Christmas story. Here are five festive folk tales, retold by Saviour Pirotta, originating from places as far-flung as Mexico and the Middle East, Northern Europe and North Africa. Sheila Moxley’s vivid artwork adds to the seasonal spirit, making this a true celebration of Christmas, throughout the world.

Read how the lost little camel’s perseverance, resourcefulness and bravery led him back to his mother and baby Jesus’ manger; How an old Baker woman’s kindness and ingenuity saves the life of Baby Jesus and feeds a starving village; The story of a how a goatherding father and daughter, guided by angels, journey to meet the newborn Saviour and present him with weeds that have been transformed into beautiful red Christmas flowers; How selfless little Kumbi puts the needs of others before her own and is rewarded with a gourd of overflowing water to replenish supplies amid drought in her village; Lastly, a Russian variation of the Father Christmas story, where Babushka delivers presents to children from her bottomless basket of toys.

What Are You Doing?

It’s the first day of school, but before he goes Chepito runs outside to play. He comes across all kinds of people in his neighborhood — a man reading a newspaper, a young girl enjoying a comic, a couple of tourists consulting a guidebook, an archeologist studying hieroglyphics. “Why, why, why?” he sings, and they each have an answer for him. Later that day Chepito discovers for himself that reading is catching, and he even brings home a book to “read” to his younger sister.

Dancing Home

A year of discoveries culminates in a performance full of surprises, as two girls find their own way to belong. Mexico may be her parents’ home, but it’s certainly not Margie’s. She has finally convinced the other kids at school she is one-hundred percent American—just like them. But when her Mexican cousin Lupe visits, the image she’s created for herself crumbles.

Things aren’t easy for Lupe, either. Mexico hadn’t felt like home since her father went North to find work. Lupe’s hope of seeing him in the United States comforts her some, but learning a new language in a new school is tough. Lupe, as much as Margie, is in need of a friend. Little by little, the girls’ individual steps find the rhythm of one shared dance, and they learn what “home” really means. In the tradition of My Name is Maria Isabel—and simultaneously published in English and in Spanish—Alma Flor Ada and her son Gabriel M. Zubizarreta offer an honest story of family, friendship, and the classic immigrant experience: becoming part of something new, while straying true to who you are.

This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

Migrant

Migrant farmers and their families represent an ever-growing body of laborers around the world. They are used as cheap labor but most of them are not allowed to settle down, integrate into their host countries and become citizens with full rights. This is, of course, devastating to their children.

Among these groups are the Mennonites from Mexico, who originally went to Mexico from Canada in the 1920s. They speak “Low German” and though many are poor, they are an important part of the Mexican farm community. Because of free trade and the fact that Mexican farmers cannot compete with highly subsidized US farmers, they have been forced to come back to Canada — as migrant workers — in order to survive. Anna is the child of Mennonites from Mexico, who have come north to harvest fruit and vegetables. Sometimes she feels like a bird, flying north in the spring and south in the fall, sometimes like a jackrabbit in an abandoned burrow, since her family occupies an empty farmhouse near the fields, sometimes like a kitten, as she shares a bed with her sisters. But above all Anna wonders what it would be like to be a tree rooted deeply in the earth, watching the seasons come and go, instead of being like a “feather in the wind.”

From North To South/Del Norte Al Sur

José loves helping Mamá in the garden outside their home in California. But when Mamá is sent back to Mexico for not having citizenship papers, José and his Papá face an uncertain future. What will it be like to visit Mamá in Tijuana? When will she be able to come home? Award-winning children’s book author René Colato Laínez tackles the difficult and timely subject of family separation with exquisite tenderness. Joe Cepeda’s bright and engaging illustrations bring this story of hope to vivid life.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2

The Crossing

Thirteen-year-old Manny, a street kid fighting for survival in a Mexican border town, develops a strange friendship with an emotionally disturbed American soldier who decides to help him get across the border.

The Last Doll/La última Muñeca

The beautiful, but old-fashioned, Sarita sadly watches as her shelf-mates are purchased by eager shoppers and taken home. She looks out through the dust-covered plastic of her box, and she worries that she will be the last one. Every day she preens and puts her best porcelain face forward, but every evening, she remains on the shelf.

Finally one day, a tall man in a black mustache decides that she is perfect, and that she absolutely must be the last doll for his godchild, Teresa, on her quinceañera. Sarita’s alarm at still being last quickly shifts to pride when she realizes that sometimes people save the best for last.