My Tata's Remedies: Los remedios de mi Tata

by Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford, Antonio Castro L. (Illustrator)

Overview

Commended Lists - Américas Book Award, Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs
Best Educational Book, International Latino Book Awards
Best Non Fiction Picture Book- International Latino Book Awards, Latino Literacy Now

A bilingual story of family and traditional wisdom: Tata teaches grandson Aaron natural remedies through healing neighbors and family.

Aaron has asked his grandfather Tata to teach him about the healing remedies he uses. Tata is a neighbor and family elder. People come to him all the time for his soothing solutions and for his compassionate touch and gentle wisdom. Tata knows how to use herbs, teas, and plants to help each one. His wife, Grandmother Nana, is there too, bringing delicious food and humor to help Tata's patients heal. An herbal remedies glossary at the end of the book includes useful information about each plant, plus botanically correct drawings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935955917
Publisher:	Cinco Puntos Press
Publication date:	05/05/2015
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,067,049
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford grew up in the Sonoran desert on the Arizona side of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was a bilingual preschool and elementary school teacher for over thirty years. Now retired, she works as an author, editor, and translator.

Antonio Castro L. was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and has lived in the Juarez / El Paso area for most of his life. He has illustrated numerous children's books including The Gum-Chewing Rattlesnake, My Pet Rattlesnake, and was awarded the prestigious Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Honor for My Tata's Remedies / Los remedios de mi tata in 2016.

Editorial Reviews

"So many cultural treasures are dependent on word-of-mouth transmission, and this story encourages grandparents to lovingly pass on their knowledge to eager grandchildren and family members." — Kirkus Reviews

"An illuminating glimpse into a tradition not often addressed in children's literature." — Booklist

"In our overprescribed, overstimulated, overscheduled lives, author Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford reminds us about family traditions, cross-cultural and inter-generational support, building community, and taking the time to share, listen, and heal one another." — BookDragon by The Smithsonian

"My Tata's Remedies is a beautiful bicultural book presenting healing herb lore laced with love in an Hispanic tradition, with roots in the American Southwest." — Midwest Book Review

"In this beautifully constructed book, the topic of traditional natural medicine takes center stage . . . Roni Rivera-Ashford portrays a loving intergenerational relationship between Tata Gus and Aaron, one in which wisdom and knowledge are patiently passed down from grandfather to grandson." — Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs

Commended Lists - Américas Book Award, Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs
Best Educational Book, International Latino Book Awards
Best Non Fiction Picture Book- International Latino Book Awards, Latino Literacy Now

From the Publisher

06/01/2015
Gr 2–4—A boy learns about making and applying herbal remedies from his grandfather, Tata, in this warm portrait of a loving Latino family. While Aaron spends the day at his grandparents' home, various neighbors drop by and ask for help with small ailments and injuries—a bee sting, itchy feet, an eye infection. Tata treats each one with an herbal tea, poultice, wrap or other application, then repeats the comforting Spanish refrain "Sana, sana, colita de rana, si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana." All are grateful and stay for empanadas and hot chocolate, and the story closes with Aaron expressing his gratitude for the lessons and his intention to practice making his Tata's remedies. This is a lovely intergenerational story that could have benefitted from some additional back matter about curanderas; a glossary offers definitions and pictures of each plant mentioned in the story, but there is no information about the family's cultural heritage, the origins of the remedies Tata employs, or the region where the story takes place. A disclaimer notes that readers should not take the text as medical advice; good thing, as one or two of the maladies Tata treats seem serious enough to warrant medical attention (a neighbor's burn, which the text indicates is mild but appears deep in the illustration, and a child's spiking fever). Realistic watercolor illustrations are kid-friendly but occasionally unsettling as the neighbors show up with their various ailments. Nevertheless, the bilingual text is strong, and the story will appeal to those looking for loving intergenerational relationships and Latino family traditions. VERDICT A strong choice for larger collections or those in need of grandparent stories.—Amy Martin, Oakland Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

2015-04-01
Following My Nana's Remedies/Los Remedios De Mi Nana, illustrated by Edna San Miguel (2002), Rivera-Ashford offers another semiautobiographical and child-friendly recounting of the importance of sharing intergenerational wisdom, this time accompanied by Castro L.'s expressive illustrations. From a banged-up forehead to a fever in the middle of the night, there are many opportunities for Aaron to observe his tata sharing concern and good cheer as he dispenses remedies based primarily on medicinal herbs to neighbors and friends. A Latino nonsense ditty used to console children when they are sick or hurt comes in handy when Aaron's little brother's itchy feet need attention ("Heal, heal, little tail of a frog; if you don't heal today, you'll be healed tomorrow"). Readers will be glad to know that Nana from the earlier book makes an appearance, and they may even wish that they were prescribed her freshly made empanadas, which she shares with the patients as part of Tata's treatments. The large and colorful single-page illustrations successfully elicit empathy for those seeking relief from various maladies at Tata's door. Botanically correct depictions of the plants utilized in the remedies decorate the text pages and are duplicated in the appendix, where properties and usage are described in more detail than within the fully bilingual text. So many cultural treasures are dependent on word-of-mouth transmission, and this story encourages grandparents to lovingly pass on their knowledge to eager grandchildren and family members. (Bilingual picture book. 4-11)

Kirkus Reviews