Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection, by F Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Felipe Davalos, Vivi Excriva, Susan Guevara, and Leya Torres

  Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection, by F Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Felipe Davalos, Vivi Excriva, Susan Guevara, and Leya Torres is a collection of twelve iconic hispanic folktales. Tales Our Abuelitas Told aims to preserve and carry on hispanic history and culture, as is stated clearly in the introduction section. The selected tales meet this purpose by providing samples of hispanic culture and history, and by using hispanic names, rather than english ones. The tales are related to each other through the About section, which also serves as a source note, and explains how the author knows these tales and where they came from. 

As mentioned, the stories come with source notes at the end of each. Every source note contains an explanation of where the author first heard the story, translations of any spanish words or names, and explaining any changes that might have been made or liberties that might have been taken with the stories. The source notes are evidence of the authors’ scholarship, but there is nothing written by or about the illustrators to indicate their own scholarship or attention to authenticity, aside from the fact that they are of hispanic descent. 

 The stories are written in a narrative style, but perhaps the most narrative part of the book is the section before the stories begin, which provides traditional hispanic openers to stories, essentially equivalent to “once upon a time”. These openers are provided in both spanish and english translations, and while the stories don’t necessarily begin with any of these openers, they do set the tone for the rest of the book. 

These stories are clearly intended for a child reader, though they are also well suited for storytimes. The selections are definitely intended for the intended user, and it is very appropriate for being read aloud to a group, due to the short length of the stories and colorful, full page pictures. There are twelve tales in the book overall, ranging from fairy tale type stories to fables and pourquois. 

There is little in the way of organization in this book. Unfortunately, when read consecutively, The stories read like a list, rather than like a collection. Overall, there is little to relate one story to the next.  However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be read continuously if the reader wishes. It just means that they can be read either continuously or independently from each other. 

The illustrations do a lot to enhance the tales. Though there aren’t many of them, the full page, full color illustrations are beautiful and unique. Each depicts elements of the stories and therefore makes them that much more vivid and enjoyable.  

Ada, A. F., Campoy, F. I., & Dávalos, F. (2006). Tales our abuelitas told: A hispanic folktale collection. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.