 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The First Tortilla
By Rudolfo Anaya and Amy Cordova |
 |
The First Tortilla, by award-winning author Rudolfo
Anaya with Amy Cordova's vivid illustrations,
is a bi-lingual children's
book. It is a story of how the first tortilla came to be. It is ba-sed on traditional
Me-xican folklore and the origins of corn cul-tivation.
The heroine of the story is a young Me-xican girl called Jade. In the opening pages Jade and her family are painted in rich earth tones with spla-shes of hot reds and yellow sun colors. Each work of art is accompanied
with text in English follow-ed by its Spanish translation by Enrique Lamadrid.
The ima-ges will delight and inform young children about an important aspect of Mexican history and the simple early life.
Jade always prayed to the "Mountain Spi-rit", but as the story begins she is saying a special prayer for rain. "Their once be-autiful
lake was al-most dry." The village was very worried
be-cause they needed the rain for the bean and squash plants that were drying up. Turning each page is a wonderful surprise,
as suddenly a bright blue hummingbird fills the page and tells Jade she must follow a very dangerous
path to the sacred volcano. The bird pro-mised to help guide her. It tells her, "The Mountain Spirit will listen to you." With much courage and faith, she leaves her village behind.
Broad |
des through purple rocks into a clear blue lake.
The Mountain Spirit is painted in full-page primary
reds and blu-es. Its mask-like fea-tures breathe out curls of smoke, say-ing fiercely, "Your people no longer ho-nor me!" She assured the Mountain, "I have not forgotten you, and I have brought you a gift." As she uncovers the bowl of hearty beans and squash as an offering, the Mo-untain told her she was a very brave girl, and yes, it would send the rain. The Spirit said he would also give her a gift, but she had to ask the ants to share it. As the story goes, the ants were carrying kernels of corn.
The Mountain Spirit
keeps its promise and sends rain, as the young readers turn the page, Jade's fire burst out in hot flaming paint while her chubby hands are seen working the golden masa into flat little pancakes.
Their warm fragrant smell made everyone hun-gry
as the masa coo-ked on hot stones.
Essentially, The First Tortilla
records the story of how Mexico flourished because of women's willing
han-ds and the simple corn kernel. Today, our modern Baja village is facing
simi-lar drought conditi- ons.
Jade's rain-ma-king method makes a pleasant and educa-tional story to read to grandchildren.
To order, visit www. unmpress.com or call Amanda Sutton
|
661-616-7305 or U.S. tel. 619-370-6285.
Rosarito Jazz Festi-val (September 7-9). Place: Hotel Festival Plaza, Blvd. Benito Juarez, Rosarito.
Mo-re than 20 interna-tional
jazz, fusion and world music groups perform in a multicul-
tural atmosphere. Ad-ditional weekend ac-tivities include
jazz clinics, a VIP formal dinner, art exhibitions
and cultural events. For info visit www.hot
elfestivalplaza.net or call Festival Plaza at U.S. toll free 888-453-8606.
Wednesday Night at the Movies (Sep-tember 12). Place:
CEMAC Theater
at the old City Hall in the park, one block west of Banamex in Ro-sarito.
Film showings at 4 p.m. on the se-cond and fourth Wed-nesdays of each month. Donation
($2 USD) benefits Fri-ends of the Library. Info: Herb Weber, tel. 661-100-2585; email: herb.weber@gmail.
com
Community Drum Circle (September 22). Place: Gazebo across the street from Joanna Jones Gale-
ria at Villa Borja in Cantamar, Tijuana-Ensenada Free Road Km. 47.6. Thomas Esparza welcomes all drums to this co-mmunity event that starts at 6 p.m. with an opening ceremony and meditation. Join in the rhythm of the African drum beat, or come and just listen to the powerful music.
Free admission. For info email: mteomaya @
gmail.com or call
|
brush strokes create vivid wildflowers and the bold colors greet Jade as she makes her way to the base of the Mountain Spi-rit's home. An ama-zing waterfall casca-
 |
at 505-272-7190 $16.95, Hardcover,
32 pages, 16 color illustrations.
CALENDAR...
continued from page
8...
tation, games and wine tasting at Casa Pedro Domecq, L.A. Cetto and Dona Lupe wineries. Late lunch at Del Rio Restaurant
in La Mision is avai-lable for an additional $10 USD. Proceeds benefit
Sisters of Mercy in Rosarito. Limited seating!
Info & reservations: Doro-thy Southern, tel.
|
Thomas at Inner Drums, tel. 661-614-2064.
7th Steak & Lobster Festival (September 23). Place: Ocean-front gardens of Ro-sarito Beach Hotel, Blvd. Benito Juarez, Rosarito.
Local res-taurants offer different styles of steak and lobster specialties
from 1-6 p.m. Info & tickets: Rosarito CA- NIRAC Chamber of Restaurants, tel. 661-612-0700; email: info@caniracrosarito
.com
TIJUANA
Luis Verdejo Art Exposition
(thru |
August). Place: Ar-te 256 Galeria, Me-rida 256 in Fracc. Chapultepec, Tijuana. An exhibition of sculptures
and paint-ings by Tijuana/Me-xico City artist
Luis Verdejo. Gallery ho-urs: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri. or by appoint- ment on Sat. Free admission. Info: Joly Lacarra,
tel. 664-621-8654; email: jolygale
ria256@gmail.com
4th Baja California Film Festival (Au-gust 27-September
2). Place: Tijuana and Ensenada. A competition
and screening of quality |
short and feature
films from different countries plus semi-nars, concerts, per-forming arts, exposi-tions (most in Tijua-na)
and a festive red carpet Awards Cere-mony (admission $100 USD) on Sept. 1 in the vineyards of L.A. Cetto Winery in Valle de Guadalupe. Film screenings (ad-mission $1.90 USD per screening) take place at Cinema Star in Tijuana from Aug 27-31 and at Cinema Star in Ensenada on Sept.1. For more info visit www.bajacaliforn
iafilmfest.org |
|
|
|
 |
|
|