Author : Xavier Garza, Illustrator : April Ward, Translator : Carolina Villarreal
Preschool - 2nd Grade

Juan y el Chupacabras - Juan and the Chupacabras

Juan y el Chupacabras - Juan and the Chupacabras, Hardcover, Bilingual, Book, Xavier Garza, April Ward, Carolina Villarreal, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781558854543, $16.95

$890.76 for the Bilingual Collection Blue Books Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 60 Hardcover Bilingual Books, 10 Softcover Bilingual Books, and 1 Hardcover Spanish Book

“The beast had dark green skin and glowing red eyes that were the size of two baseballs,” Abuelo tells his wide-eyed grandchildren.  According to Abuelo, a creature called the Chupacabras lurks in the fields looking for fresh victims.  Young Juan and his cousin Luz savor Abuelo’s hair-raising stories.  He tells the children of defeating terrifying fiends like the Chupacabras and La Llorona.  The children cling to every word as he describes his brave stand-off with the Chupacabras, a terrifying beast with wings, claws and sharp fangs.  But yet they wonder if there’s more to his strange story than meets the eye.   Plucky Luz hatches a plan to either disprove Abuelo’s tale or hunt down the menacing monster and put an end to it once and for all.  Armed with a bag of marbles dipped in holy water and a sling shot, the children venture into a cornfield one moonless night in search of the truth.  Just like Chupacabras’s thirst for blood and the children’s appetite for Abuelo’s stories, young readers aged 3-7 will devour the pages of this exciting picture book that transmits the storytelling traditions of the Mexican-American community from one generation to the next.

Listen to Vienna Rose read Juan and the Chupacabras to you.  A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.

School Library Journal : Grade 2-4–Tall tales or true adventures? Cousins Luz and Juan can't tell if the wild stories their grandfather tells them of his own life-and-death battles with the infamous Chupacabras are fact or fiction. So they arm themselves with a trusty slingshot and a bag of marbles (that have been soaked in holy water for good measure) and venture out into the night-shadowed cornfields in search of the legendary bloodsucking stealer of children. When the demon makes a frightening appearance, Luz shoots her slingshot directly at its forehead. Before the children can celebrate, the monster yells out their names in a strangely familiar voice. It turns out that they have mistaken Juan's dad for the Chupacabras. When they explain that they were only trying to verify Abuelo's stories, the father merely smiles and urges them to run along home. Besides, he says, the Chupacabras only comes out when the moon is full. The English and Spanish texts appear on the same page, separated by a narrow illustration. The full-page illustration moves the action along nicely. An excellent choice for storytime and classroom sharing.

Críticas (starred review) on Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask: A Bilingual Cuento  "…an attractive package with definite appeal for boys. This title is sure to become popular in both libraries and bookstores."

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