This bilingual compilation contains stories from Puerto Rico, Haiti, Mexico, and various Central and South American countries; four of the tales are from Native peoples. Both the English and Spanish texts, illustrated with black-and-white artwork, are rich and lyrical. DeSpain's appended source notes include motifs and tell readers where to find other versions of each tale.

A bilingual anthology of 15 traditional folktales, myths, and legends, each from a different Latin American culture. The collection includes a few familiar stories such as "Juan Bobo," the Puerto Rican tale of a son who dresses the family pig in his mother's finest clothes. Most of the tales are less well known to U.S. audiences, such as "The Crocodile Man," the Colombian story of a man who transforms himself into a crocodile to be with the woman he loves. Told in simple language and in abbreviated form, these selections are easy for beginning storytellers to learn. Experienced tellers will find them useful when time restraints preclude the telling of longer tales. Average-quality, full-page sketches, reproduced in shades of charcoal, introduce each of the stories, and smaller designs, which appear to be scratchboard, follow each selection. Source notes in English are appended.-Denise E. Agosto, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.