Legendary Character

Anansi

Two Jamaican folk tales in which Anansi the spider practices his trickery on others. Includes an audio cassette featuring narration and music.

Tiger Soup: An Anansi Story from Jamaica

After tricking Tiger into leaving the soup he has been cooking, Anansi the spider eats the soup himself and manages to put the blame on the monkeys.

Young Zorro: The Iron Brand (Young Zorro)

Diego de la Vega is more concerned with riding horses and making mischief with his best friend, Bernardo, than about fighting injustice. But all that changes when men start disappearing from the pueblo of Los Angeles and cattle go missing from his father’s rancho. Diego and Bernardo are about to encounter an injustice so evil that they will have no choice but to take action. Inspired by Isabel Allende’s novel Zorro, which reveals how Diego de la Vega became the legendary masked hero, Young Zorro: The Iron Brand introduces readers to a land of vaqueros and kidnappers—an exciting world in which a young hero is formed.

Prietita and the Ghost Woman / Prietita Y La Llorona

In a bilingual retelling of a famous Mexican legend, Prietita sets out to find the missing herb that can cure her mother’s illness and, while lost in the woods, comes face to face with the mysterious la Llorona, the ghost woman.

Juan The Bear And The Water Of Life: La Acequia De Juan Del Oso (Paso Por Aqui Series On The Nuevomexicano Literary Heritage)

La Acequia del Rito y la Sierra in the Mora Valley is the highest and most famous traditional irrigation system in New Mexico. It carries water up and over a mountain ridge and across a sub-continental divide, from the tributaries of the Río Grande to the immense watershed of the Mora, Canadian, Arkansas, and Mississippi Rivers. The names and stories of those who created this acequia to sustain their communities have mostly been lost and replaced by myths and legends. Now, when children ask, some parents attribute the task of moving mountains and changing the course of rivers to Juan del Oso, the stouthearted man whose father was a bear.From the mountains of northern Spain to the Andes in South America, Spanish-speaking people have told ancient legends of Juan del Oso and his friends. In this children’s tale, agriculturalist Juan Estevan Arellano and folklorist Enrique Lamadrid share a unique version of a celebrated story that has been told in northern New Mexico for centuries.Reading level: age 10 years and up

Juan And The Jackalope: A Children’s Book In Verse

When Rosita, the loveliest gal in the Pecos River Valley, offers her delicious rhubarb pie as first prize for the Great Grasshopper Race, a thousand love-struck vaqueros line up for the competition. Of course everyone believes that the legendary cowboy Pecos Bill, riding his giant grasshopper, Hoppy, is a shoo-in for the grand prize. Sure enough, Bill and Hoppy give an impressive performance, crisscrossing the Southwest in a raucous ride. But young Juan, who is hopelessly in love with Rosita, astonishes them all when he and Jack the Jackalope take a miraculous ride around the world and across the Milky Way. The daring pair return, covered in stardust, to claim the beautiful Rosita and her delicious pie. Set in New Mexico, Anaya’s fanciful story, coupled with Amy Cordova’s vivid illustrations, brings the tradition of Southwestern tall tales to a new generation of young readers.

Perceval: King Arthur’s Knight of the Holy Grail

Retells the Arthurian legend of Perceval, a foolish and impatient boy who realizes his dream of becoming a great knight, but meets with misfortune when he forgets to pray and serve God.