Baila, Nana, Baila (Dance, Nana, Dance)

Montessori Life, 2009 by Carey, Kathy

Baila, Nana, Baila (Dance, Nana, Dance) Cuban Folktales in English and Spanish Retold by Joe Hayes Illustrated by Mauricio Trenard Sayago El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2008 $20.95

By Kathy Carey

Folktales encompass the culture and history of a people, celebrating the noble as well as the foolish. They are oral histories that convey a moral, relate how we of that culture are to live, or how we are not to live. Embedded in folklore are life lessons.

This collection of Cuban folktales, appropriate for kindergarten and early elementary age children, is strongly reminiscent of the humorous but highly moral tales of lssac Bashevis Singer's Stories for Children (New York: Far rar Straus, 1986), written for older children.

In the first story, "Yams Don't Talk," a young couple is deceived by a turtle into thinking their winter stash of yams can talk as each time one of them approaches they hear, "Thief! Scoundrel! Leave Us Where We Are!" They enlist the aid of the king, the holy one of the forest with three feet, Osai ? of the Two Feet, and finally Osai ? of the One Foot. The ending will amuse adults and children alike, fostering discussions about just what was really going on.

Another tale, "The Lazy Old Crows," is a bit of role reversal. It is the old ones who do not want to earn their daily bread and so, by cleverly disguising themselves as the babies of neighboring crows, trick their neighbors into providing copious amounts of food, while the old crows languish in comfort. Unforeseen events force the oldsters out of the nest, and feeling fit and happier from weeks of care, they decide that their lives are not so hard after all.

The author, Joe Hayes, traveled to Cuba frequently, gathering material from folklorists, "... to tell the stories in a way that preserved their strong roots in Cuban culture while putting them in easy reach of young readers ..." in the United States. The illustrations by Sayago are bold and colorful, evoking Afro -Cu ban heritage as well as the powerful symbolism of animals in Cuban folktales.