Emerald Lizard (World Storytelling)

Bank Street College: Best Children’s Books of the Year & Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media Young Adults’ Choice Award Latin America today presents a complex tapestry of native, Spanish, European, and African influences. For the past three decades, Pleasant DeSpain has explored Latin America – its landscapes, customs, cultures, and especially, its stories. Here he presents his finely-honed retellings of traditional folktales, myths, and legends from a broad array of Latin American cultures: Guatemala, Haiti, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Chile. The fifteen tales presented here are full of compassionate souls, tricks and humor, explanations of nature and geography – and always, fine storytelling. Mario Lamo-Jimenez’s Spanish translation reverberates with the rich, vibrant quality for which Latin tales are known. These animal stories are wild with llamas, jaguars and lessons for readers. Oh my! Messages of courage, fairness and resourcefulness run rampant in these folktales.