This author discusses the way that a Mexican family celebrates a holiday referred to as the Day of the Dead in their hometown of Sacramento, CA. The author paints a picture of what the mainstream United States citizens would define as an American family portrayed with a Mexican family that has happily conformed to the ways of the United States. She does this is many ways, such as by demonstrating how the kids are into American sports, a picture of the happy mother and children in front of the Capital building, where the mom works “down the street” from, and a picture of the daughter “helping” her brother and father collect reeds for the celebration.
The author makes the assumption that the reader celebrates Christmas and understands what it feels like and actually enjoys unpacking Christmas tree ornaments. She assumes that the intended audience would be afraid to play with the old masks that are used in the celebrations and afraid of various other issues associated with death.
The authors description of how the Catholic Celebrations referred to as All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day “…just so happened…” to fall on the same day as the Mexican Festival, which is not how it actually happened, as recognized by Denise Davila in her article, In Search of the Ideal Reader. If the author is going to mislead the reader in one instance for reasons unknown, the rest of the book is considered to be taken with a grain of salt. It is for this reason that I would not introduce this book into my elementary classroom if I had one. If it was available to my students anyway, I would inform them of the inaccuracies with the text, urge them to not to necessarily believe too much of this book, and use it to teach students not to believe everything they read.

This book tells the story of how a Mexican American family in Sacramento, California celebrates the day of the dead with their community. It goes into the origins of this holiday including the pre Aztec, Aztec and Catholic influences. It emphasizes how this is a celebration of life and death. It is "a time for the spirits to return to visit their family and friends still living on earth."

It covers the various traditions and what they represent such as the alter and ofrenda, skeletons, masks, flowers, offerings of food and cemetery processionals. It also tells how there is a Catholic service at the church as well as an Indian celebration after the processional.

Overall, this is a well written book that does a great job of explaining how and why this family celebrates this holiday without being patronizing or offensive. I did find some places that made me think it could have been clearer. It mentions the conquistadors were "christian" instead of "catholic". It does however go onto explain the melding of it with the Catholic holidays. Regarding Halloween, it states that allthough they come "at the same time of year, the two holidays come from very different traditions and origins". It also mentions that the processional may seem like a parade but it is "not a typical parade where people are having fun and showing off". It is a serious event and some even cry remembering their late loved ones.

This book has information about the photographer in front but no table of contents, foreword or introduction. In the back, there is a glossary of Spanish terms and an index.

Upon reflecting on our discussion in class and looking over this book again, I wonder if these various books on the Day of the Dead can be different yet all accurate. Maybe different areas celebrate differently and for different reasons. You can grow up in these cultures and be taught differently. Over time, customs and traditions change slightly and even the origins are skewed as passed from generation to generation. Just a thought as to how the books can be so different. ( )

This children’s book tells the Día de los Muertos story through the eyes of bilingual Sacramento, California-based twins, aged ten, named Ximena and Azucena. The book tells the family history to illustrate the strong ties between the American family and its native Mexico. In 1974, the twin’s father was an integral part of bringing Día de los Muertos to Sacramento. This book gives a very detailed history of Día de los Muertos that I didn’t come across in any other children’s books. It explains much of Aztec culture, including their Creation Myth, and how Día de los Muertos began. Then, Spanish conquistadors came into contact with these people, and their Catholic influence altered their traditions, and Halloween was beginning to brew in Europe simultaneously. Finally, it discusses how Mexican-Americans have another unique take on celebrating the holiday. Then, the book outlines the celebration, many pages on the ofrendas (with more elaborate detail than other books in this bibliography) a section on the masks of Día de los Muertos (another facet of the fiesta that isn’t covered in other books), and the procession a family takes from its home to the cemetery. It also contains a glossary of the Spanish words used throughout the book with its definition. ( )