Southwest Children's Literature

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Pablo Remembers the Fiesta of the Day of the Dead

Book Review:

This book is about a family in Oaxaca, Mexico that is preparing for the celebration of El día de los muertos, The Day of the Dead. Pablo and his sisters help their mother and father prepare for this special day that will honor their grandmother who died. Pablo takes us into the streets of the market place of Oaxaca where he and his family shop for the supplies needed for constructing an altar. They buy oranges, chiles, apples, pan de muertos, candles, sugarcane, spices, cempasuchil (marigolds), and sugar skulls for the altar. When they arrive at home, the children set up the altar for their grandmother by putting a tablecloth on a table and covering the altar with all the provisions bought while at the market place. Meanwhile, their mother is busy making the traditional food for the festival: tamales, tortillas, and mole. The next day they go to the cemetery to visit the grave of the deceased grandmother. They take flowers, candles, and offerings of food to their grandmother, clean the graves and picnic there all day.

The illustrations in the book are great. Photojournalist George Ancona brings to life the preparation of El día de los muertos in his photographs taken in Oaxaca, Mexico. The different items in the marketplace, Pablo's home, his family, the altars, and the cemetery transport readers to help them experience another culture.


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