¡El Cucuy!: A Bogeyman Cuento in English and Spanish

by Joe Hayes, Honorio Robledo Tapia (Illustrator)

Overview

Listen to your parents or el Cucuy—the Bogeyman—might get you!

Hazle caso a tus papás, ¡o puede ser que el Cucuy venga por ti!

So, you've been in trouble. Your parents tell you they're calling the bogeyman. You laugh. There's no such thing!

Then—you hear a sharp knock. Standing at the door is the oldest man you have ever seen. It's el Cucuy (coo-COO-ee)! With that big red ear, he hears everything!

In this cautionary tale, storyteller Joe Hayes tells readers about two girls who didn't believe in el Cucuy until he snatched them up. But of course, the story has a happy ending.

Con que haz estado haciendo travesuras. Tus papás te dicen que le van a hablar al Cucuy. Te riés. ¡No existe!

Entonces: escuchas un fuerte golpe en la puerta. Y ahí esta el hombre más viejo que jamas haz visto. ¡Es el Cucuy! Con esa gran oreja roja, ¡escucha todo!

En esta historia admonitoria, el cuentista Joe Hayes habla de dos niñas que no creyeron en el Cucuy hasta que se las robo. Pero claro, el cuento tiene un final feliz.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780938317784
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	09/01/2003
Series:	Working Classics Series
Edition description:	Bilingual Edition
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	303,580
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.20(d)
Language:	Spanish
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He grew up in a small town in southern Arizona where he started learning Spanish from his classmates. As Hayes got older, he began reading the work of folklorists and anthropologists and gathering the old stories from the Southwest region. His books have received the Arizona Young Readers Award, two Land of Enchantment Children's Book Awards, the Texas Bluebonnet award, and the National Storytelling Network Talking Leaves Award. He lives in New Mexico.

Honorio Robledo, artist and musician, has illustrated four Lee & Low books: ¡El Cucuy!, Nico Visits the Moon and The Dog Child with the imprint Cinco Puntos Press, and Super Cilantro Girl with Children's Book Press. He and his wife Luana moved to Mexico many years ago so their children could grow up barefoot.

Editorial Reviews

"It's no wonder that Hayes has a reputation in the Southwest and beyond as a premier storyteller. This is a tale that is meant to be read aloud with a group (and maybe even in the dark). . . The authentically regional Spanish text reads very smoothly. Recommended for public libraries and bookstores." — Críticas

"Known for his bilingual retelling of the ghost story La Llorona, the Weeping Woman (1987), Hayes now delights with his bilingual version of a tale featuring southwestern bogeyman el Cucuy. . . Not the book for truly timid tots, but this masterfully told story belongs in the hands of those scoffing, hard-case customers who challenge you to find them a really scary story." — Booklist

"This bilingual retelling is a welcome addition for Spanish speakers who may recognize the bogeyman as el Cucuy." — School Library Journal

"[This] retelling has just the right touch." — Children's Literature

"Kids will appreciate this chilling cautionary tale, best enjoyed during the daylight hours." — Publishers Weekly

"After a good scare, children will delight in the happy ending!" — Book Talk

From the Publisher

Gr 1-3-It's no wonder that Hayes has a reputation in the Southwest and beyond as a premier storyteller. This is a tale that is meant to be read aloud with a group (and maybe even in the dark). Although the author acknowledges that the bogeyman tale is a bit harsh for modern sensibilities, he defends his choice to keep the authentic and scary elements of this traditional folktale. In it, two little girls are seen by their long-suffering father as being lazy and disobedient. Although he threatens repeatedly to call the Cucuy to take them away, they scoff at the threats and even escalate their bad behavior. When the Cucuy does come and carts them away roughly to his lair in the mountains, the girls are horrified and frightened. Robledo does a great job of making his illustrations scary with wild rolling eyes, fierce dogs, and an appropriately hideous bogeyman. The prescribed happy ending comes when a shepherd finds the girls in a cave and reunites them with their grieving father. The authentically regional Spanish text reads very smoothly. Recommended for public libraries and bookstores. M.O.B. Rosa-Mendoza, Gladys. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 2-4-This bilingual retelling is a welcome addition for Spanish speakers who may recognize the bogeyman as el Cucuy. He is described as a gigantic old man with a humped back and a large, red left ear that can hear everything (on the cover el Cucuy's right ear is shown as red and huge). The legend goes that "Sometimes he comes down from his cave in the mountains to carry bad children away." A father, troubled by his two eldest daughters' disobedience and laziness, calls out toward the mountains "`aCucuy! aCucuy! Baja para llevarte a estas malcriadas.' Come and get these bad girls." The girls make fun of their father's belief in a bogeyman, and what happens next is not surprising-el Cucuy comes to get them and carries them away to his cave. In the end, the remorseful girls are reunited with their father. The vividly colored illustrations add much to the tale, especially the characters' large eyes, which give an eerie feel to the story. The note at the end is a wonderful resource on the history of this folktale.-Diane Olivo-Posner, Long Beach Public Library, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal