Synopses & Reviews
Welcome to the family! It's just like yours: father, mother, sister, brother, abuelita, gato, even a great-great grandmother. Well, but there's something just a little bit different about this particular family. Maybe it's those clothes they wear . . . just a little bit fashion backward. And the colors! So vibrant and . . . lively. Maybe that's what it is. They are just so full of life while looking almost other worldly.
Cynthia Weill's latest bilingual book for young readers teaches basic information about relationships, while also celebrating the colorful tradition of Mexico's Day of the Dead. Artist Jesus Canseco Zarate long-limbed sculptures are a playful twist on traditional Mexican iconography of the skeleton that stretches back through the country's art history to José Gualdalupe Posada's engravings and Aztec sculpture.
Chosen as one of the Best Children's Books Of The Year by the Children's Book Committee and by the Cooperative Children's Book Center.
Cynthia Weill holds a doctorate in education from Teachers College Columbia University. She is on the board of the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art which seeks to promote and preserve the artists and artisanal work of that Mexican state. La Familia is her fifth book featuring the folk art of Oaxaca.
Jesus Canseco Zarate is a young Oaxacan folk artist whose medium of choice is paper mâché. In 2008 he won first prize in the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art completion for young artists.
Review
"Oaxacan folk artist Zárate creates papier-mâché sculptures of Day of the Deadstyle skeletons that grin widely as a young skeleton named Anita introduces her family
Zárates sculptures exude personality."—Publishers Weekly
Review
"Oaxacan folk artist Zárate creates papier-mâché sculptures of Day of the Deadstyle skeletons that grin widely as a young skeleton named Anita introduces her family
Zárates sculptures exude personality."
Publishers Weekly"Though they are skeletons, this family couldnt be friendlier
The details traditional Oaxacan artist Canseco Zárate includes charm as fully as Weills crunchy vocabulary
They may be dead, but their affection is palpable. Just right for the Day of the Dead or for a fresh take on family structurestan lindo!" Kirkus Reviews
"The photographed Oaxacan folk-art figures will make readers smile as each one has a fixed grin, as one would expect from a well-dressed skeleton
This book would be a welcome and culturally relevant addition to beginning-reader collections."School Library Journal
Synopsis
Welcome to la familia! Father, mother,
abuelita. The fifties kitsch of
Familia introduces readers to a family just like theirs.
About the Author
Cynthia Weill holds a doctorate in education from Teachers College Columbia University. She is on the board of a foundation — Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art — that seeks to promote and preserve the artists and artisanal work of the state.
Familia is her fifth book that features the folk art of Oaxaca.
Jesus Canseco Zárate is a young Oaxacan folk artist whose medium of choice is paper mâché. He is known for his elaborate calacas (skeleton statues). In 2008, he won first prize in the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art completion for young artists.