SANTA FE, NM (AP) — An author known as the father of Chicano literature left behind a bilingual children’s book after his death in 2020, telling a story about Christmas in the American Southwest.
The tale by Rudolfo Anaya, who died of natural causes at age 82, is posthumously published for the holiday season by the Museum of New Mexico Press with parallel text in Spanish and English. The story continues a cycle of illustrated children’s books by Anaya with a playful cast of animal characters, centered around a curious little owl named Ollie Tecolote.
The book was painstakingly crafted by Anaya in her senior year to invite children to explore literature in English and Spanish, said Enrique Lamadrid, publisher and retired chairman of the Spanish Teaching Department at the ‘University of New Mexico. Lamadrid worked closely with Anaya in his later years to translate the “Owl in a Straw Hat” series into Spanish.
“We designed this really, really, really carefully to make the kids comfortable,” said Lamadrid, who first befriended Anaya in the 1970s. You have to fall in love with your second language to be any good with it at all.
Anaya achieved lasting literary fame and influence with the 1972 novel “Bless Me, Ultima” about a boy’s coming of age in post-World War II New Mexico under the guidance of a healer. traditional spiritual. The book became a film – and an opera.
Anaya first wrote her “New Mexico Christmas Story” for children in English, sprinkling a handful of Spanish words and phrases about Hispanic holiday comfort food and traditional Christmas pranks performed by “abuelos “.
Literally translated, “abuelos” means grandfathers or grandparents, while it is also used as slang for the costumed elders of the family in northern New Mexico who traditionally go house to house at Christmas to ask the children surprised if they have been naughty or nice.
The images in the book come from pop culture painter and muralist Moises Salcedo — who passes by El Moisés — and offer a splashing visual tour of northern New Mexico’s winter holiday traditions, from homemade “farolito” candles to steaming “pozole” stew and an adventure that touches on the three wise men.
Michelle Garcia, an Albuquerque City preschool teacher, reads an older Straw Hat Owl book to her 4- and 5-year-old students, seated in a semi-circle, allowing for comments and questions.
Hispanic traditions run deep in New Mexico, where Spanish settlers arrived in 1598. Nearly half of the state’s population claim Hispanic heritage, and some students in Garcia’s class — but not all — recognize the Spanish words in Anaya’s book. Garcia says a short English-Spanish glossary in the book helps her answer any questions.
“There’s such a variety of words that they can understand, especially if they’re of Chicano descent or any kind of Spanish descent,” said Garcia, who traces his Hispanic roots and comfort with Spanish expressions. to the grandparents of northern New Mexico and far southern Colorado.
Garcia took the day off to meet Anaya shortly before her death, knowing that he would appear at the dedication of a public library in her name.
“He said he met his wife at the library,” Garcia said. “It was just this amazing story to encourage kids to come to the library and read and open a book. It just encouraged me to tell these stories.
By Morgan Lee, Associated Press