Watch Out for Clever Women

Cuidado con las mujeres astutas
By Joe Hayes, Vicki Trego Hill
Paperback: $12.95

Folktales with an affirmative action twist: In each a woman uses her wits to overcome adversity.

Description

A bilingual collection of humorous trickster tales, in which women pit their formidable intelligence to outwit villains, husbands, brothers, fathers, and sweethearts. From the kind woman who tricked two men who thought they had robbed her of a ham to the woman who saved her gold by tricking her foolish husband into thinking it had snowed tortillas, these tales cultivate lessons of honesty, goodness, hospitality, and honor–not to mention intelligence and wit to survive. As Joe Hayes points out, “People the world over tell stories of a humble individual tricking an overbearing person of higher status, but the idea is especially cherished in Hispanic storylore. Making the trickster a woman adds spice to the trick.”

About the Creators

Joe Hayes

Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He grew up in a small town in southern Arizona where he started learning Spanish from his classmates. As Hayes got older, he began reading the work of folklorists and anthropologists and gathering the old stories from the Southwest region. His books have received the Arizona Young Readers Award, two Land of Enchantment Children's Book Awards, the Texas Bluebonnet award, and the National Storytelling Network Talking Leaves Award. He lives in New Mexico.

Vicki Trego Hill

Vicki Trego Hill is a book designer and illustrator. She lives in El Paso, Texas.

Awards

  • Southwest Book Awards Winner

    Border Regional Library Association

  • Texas Bluebonnet Award Shortlist

    Texas Library Association (TLA)

Reviews

  • "At once a fun language lesson and a feminist story collection, this serves as a good introduction to folklore that celebrates the poor in the face of hardship."

    - Kirkus Reviews
  • "American Southwest storyteller Hayes retells ten folktales, five new and five from the 1994 original edition, with straightforward, often funny text in both English and Spanish."

    - The Horn Book
  • "[A] humorous collection of trickster tales."

    - Children's Literature
  • "These stories are clear, lovely earthy--as still and as comforting as a smooth stone in the palm of an outstretched hand. As I read through these tales, I was reminded of the fact that a good story teller can always teach us something new about ourselves. If there is joy in simple things, then this book is filled with much joy."

    - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781947627017
  • Price $12.95
  • Publication Date Jan 15, 2019
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.5 lbs
  • Page Count 160
  • Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781947627000
  • Price $19.95
  • Publication Date Jan 15, 2019
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.75 lbs
  • Page Count 160
  • Word Count 13774
  • Interests

  • Imprint Cinco Puntos Press
  • Audience Middle Grade
  • BISAC Category 1 JUV / People & Places / United States / Hispanic & Latino
  • BISAC Category 2 JUV / Legends, Myths, Fables / General
  • BISAC Category 3 JUV / Social Themes / Values & Virtues
  • Themes Bilingual, Empathy / Compassion, Fiction, Folktale / Folklore / Traditional Literature, Integrity / Honesty, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, Spanish
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 8 - 12
  • Grade Range Grades 3 - 6
  • Guided Reading T
  • Spanish Guided Reading T
  • ATOS Book Level 4.8
  • DRA 44
  • Interest Level Grades 3 - 6
  • Lexile Level 810
  • Reading Level Grades 4 - 6
  • Bebop Reading Fluent
  • ADA Site Compliance-Accessibility Policy