Martina is a young cockroach who doesnt know coffee beans about love and marriage. Thats where her Cuban family comes in. While some of the Cucarachas offer her gifts to make her more attractive, only her grandmother gives her something really useful: some shocking advice. Full color.

"In retelling a popular Cuban folktale, Deedy (The Yellow Star) shares a secret closely guarded by Cuban grandmothers — at least, by Cuban grandmothers of cockroaches. When you spill coffee on your suitor's shoes, Abuela tells her 21-day-old granddaughter Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha, his reaction tells you all you need to know about what sort of spouse he will make. And events prove her right. 'Ki-ki-ri-kiiii!' storms Don Gallo, the rooster, who seconds before has proposed very prettily to the six-legged beauty. 'Clumsy cockroach! I will teach you better manners when you are my wife!' Don Cerdo the pig and Don Lagarto the lizard fare no better ('You are much too cold-blooded for me,' Martina tells the lizard, who reveals in his irritation that he has actually planned to eat her). As a note on the book jacket explains, Cuban cockroaches are a lovely green, and Austin's (The Horned Toad Prince) lime-colored Martina, in high heels and a lace mantilla, appears the picture of maidenly charm. ('Daintily, she sat down/ and crossed her legs,/ and crossed her legs,/ and crossed her legs,' quips Deedy.) Austin's cockroach dwelling is a desirable piece of real estate, with its stairs made of gum wrappers, its wrought — plastic comb railing, and its exclusive mid-Havana address (it's a lamppost). A friendly sprinkling of Spanish words, warmly drawn relationships and a lot of puns all widen the audience for this spirited story. A Spanish-language version is available as well. Ages 6-10. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)