Mi familia calaca / My Skeleton Family

A Mexican Folk Art Family in English and Spanish
By Cynthia Weill, Jesús Canseco Zárate
Paperback: $11.95

Come meet La Familia calaca! They’re just like everybody else. Except they’re all bones!

Description

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 bilingual collaboration with artist Jesus Canseco Zarate teaches young readers basic information about relationships, while also celebrating the colorful tradition of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. 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 Guadalupe Posada’s engravings and Aztec sculpture.

***

¡Bienvenidos a la familia! Es justo como la tuya: papá, mamá, hermana, hermano, abuelita, gato, hasta un a vis-abuela. Pero hay algo un poco diferente sobre esta familia. Tal vez es la su ropa… es un poco anticuada. Y los colores! Tan vibrantes y… vivos. Tal vez eso es, solo están llenos de vida, al mismo tiempo pareciendo de otro mundo.

La colaboración bilingüe entre autora Cynthia Weill y artista Jesus Canseco Zarate le enseña a lectores jóvenes información básica sobre familias, al mismo tiempo celebrando la tradición colorida del Día de Muertos. Las esculturas de brazos largos de Canseco Zarate le dan un toque juguetón a la iconografía Mexicana tradicional del esqueleto, que se ve a lo largo de la historia artística del país, hasta los grabados de José Guadalupe Posada, y las esculturas Aztecas.

About the Creators

Cynthia Weill

Cynthia Weill's fascination with the crafts of Oaxaca began while she was working in Mexico as a Fulbright exchange teacher. She has published several books in the Mexican Folk Art series, which features different folk art of Oaxaca. Many of the figures showcased in this series are now part of the permanent Mesoamerican Anthropology collections at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Cindy lives in New York City and can be found online at cynthiaweill.net.

Jesús Canseco Zárate
Jesús Canseco Zárate

Jesús Canseco Zárate is a Oaxacan folk artist known for his elaborate calacas (skeleton statues). In 2008, he won first prize in the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art completion for young artists. His work has been showcased in local, national, and international galleries and venues. Currently, Jesús works as an artistic photographer in the Oaxaca and Mexico City area. His work can be seen online at chuchocaza.wordpress.com.

Awards

  • CCBC Choices

    Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

  • Best Children's & Young Adult Books of the Year

    Bank Street College of Education

  • Junior Library Guild Selection

    Junior Library Guild

Reviews

  • "Oaxacan folk artist Zárate creates papier-mâché sculptures of Day of the Dead–style skeletons that grin widely as a young skeleton named Anita introduces her family. . . Zárate's sculptures exude personality."

    - Publishers Weekly
  • "Though they are skeletons, this family couldn't be friendlier. . . The details traditional Oaxacan artist Canseco Zárate includes charm as fully as Weill's 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 structure- tan 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

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781941026342
  • Publication Date Mar 07, 2017
  • Trim Size 10 × 6 in
  • Weight 0.25 lbs
  • Page Count 32
  • Interests

  • Audience Children
  • BISAC Category 1 JNF / Foreign Language Study / Spanish
  • BISAC Category 2 JNF / Family / Multigenerational
  • BISAC Category 3 JNF / Art / Sculpture
  • Themes Bilingual, Cultural Diversity, Diversity, Families, Fiction, Informational / Expository Nonfiction, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, Nonfiction, Spanish
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 3 - 7
  • Grade Range Grades PreK - 2
  • Guided Reading G
  • Spanish Guided Reading G
  • ATOS Book Level 1.2
  • DRA 12
  • Interest Level Grades PreK - 2
  • Lexile Level 240
  • Reading Level 1
  • Bebop Reading Emergent
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