Kids of all ages are always asking Joe Hayes, "How can it snow tortillas?"Well, now theyll know where to find the answer: at long last, Joes signature book The Day It Snowed Tortillas is appearing in a new bilingual edition. Bloomsbury Review listed the original English-only edition as one of their fifteen all-time favorite childrens books. Our bilingual edition has all the original stories as they have evolved in the last twenty years of Joes storytelling. It also has new illustrations by award-winning artist Antonio Castro. Storytellers have been telling these stories in the villages of New Mexico since the Spanish first came to the New World over four hundred years ago, but Joe always adds his own nuances for modern audiences. The tales are full of magic and fun. In the title story, for instance, a very clever woman saves her silly husband from a band of robbers. She makes the old man believe it snowed tortillas during the night! In another story, a young boy gladly gives up all of his wages for good advice. His parents think he is a fool, but the good advice leads to wealth and a royal marriage. The enchantment continues in story after storya clever thief tricks a king for his kingdom and a prince finds his beloved in a house full of wicked step-sisters. And of course, we listen again to the ancient tale of the weeping woman, La Llorona, who still searches for her drowned children along the riverbanks.

Joe Hayes is one of Americas premier storytellers. He is especially recognized for his bilingual telling of stories from the Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico. Joe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels extensively throughout the United States, visiting schools and storytelling festivals. LANGUAGE: spa

"Bridges, a Cherokee artist making her children's book debut, joins Tingle (Walking the Choctaw Road) in a moving and wholly original story about the intersection of cultures. The river Bok Chitto divides the Choctaw nation from the plantations of Mississippi. 'If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free,' writes Tingle, 'The slave owner could not follow. That was the law.' But Bok Chitto holds a secret: a rock pathway that lies just below the surface of the water. 'Only the Choctaws knew it was there, for the Choctaws had built it,' Tingle explains. When a slave boy and his family are befriended by a Choctaw girl, the pathway becomes part of an ingenious plan that enables the slaves to cross the river to freedom — in plain view of a band of slave hunters during a full moon. Bridges creates mural-like paintings with a rock-solid spirituality and stripped-down graphic sensibility, the ideal match for the down-to-earth cadences and poetic drama of the text. Many of the illustrations serve essentially as portraits, and they're utterly mesmerizing — strong, solid figures gaze squarely out of the frame, beseeching readers to listen, empathize and wonder. Ages 5-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

At long last, The Day It Snowed TortillasJoe Hayes signature bookis appearing in a new bilingual edition. Originally published in 1982, Bloomsbury Review listed it as one of their 15 all-time favorite children s books. With 40,000 copies in print, the book has become a mainstay on the shelves of libraries and bookstores throughout the American Southwest.

Collects 10 bilingual stories from New Mexico folklore.

"There is a river called Bok Chitto that cuts through Mississippi. In the days before the War Between the States, in the days before the Trail of Tears, Bok Chitto was a boundary. On one side of the river lived the Choctaws. On the other side lived the plantation owners and their slaves. If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free." <P>Thus begins "Crossing Bok Chitto," told by award-winning Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle and brought to life with the rich illustrations of Jeanne Rorex Bridges. <P>Martha Tom, a young Choctaw girl, knows better than to cross Bok Chitto, but one day-in search of blackberries-she disobeys her mother and finds herself on the other side. A tall slave discovers Martha Tom. A friendship begins between Martha Tom and the slave's family, most particularly his young son, Little Mo. Soon afterwards, Little Mo's mother finds out that she is going to be sold. The situation seems hopeless, except that Martha Tom teaches Little Mo's family how to walk on water to their freedom. <P>Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle blends songs, cedar flute, and drum with tribal lore to bring the lore of the Choctaw Nation to life in lively historical, personal, and traditional stories. His collection of stories "Walking the Choctaw Road" was selected as the Oklahoma Book of the Year. <P>Artist Jeanne Rorex Bridges traces her heritage back to her Cherokee ancestors. "Crossing Bok Chitto" is her first fully illustrated book.

Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle makes his living telling stories and teaching folklore at schools, universities and festivals nationally. The Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers selected Tim as "Contemporary Storyteller of the Year" for 2001. Tim Tingle lives in Canyon Lake, Texas, near San Antonio.