The Donkey Lady Fights La Llorona and Other Stories La señora Asna se enfrenta a La Llorona y otros cuentos

by Xavier Garza, Maira E. Álvarez (Translator)

Margarito is eleven years old now and he’s way past believing in Grandpa Ventura’s ghost stories, but he loves listening to them anyway. One evening on his way home from his grandfather’s, Margarito finds himself alone in the gathering dusk, crossing a narrow bridge. Suddenly, a woman in white floats towards him and calls, “Come to me, child … come to me!” He frantically hides in the shallow river, but soon sees a pair of yellow, glowing eyes swimming towards him. Before long, the Donkey Lady and La Llorona are circling each other, fighting to claim poor Margarito as their next victim!

Popular storyteller Xavier Garza returns with another collection of eerie tales full of creepy creatures from Latin American lore. There are duendes, bald, green-skinned brutes with sharp teeth; thunderbirds, giant pterodactyl-like things that discharge electricity from their wings during thunderstorms; and blood-sucking beasts that drain every single drop of blood from their victims’ bodies!

Set in contemporary times, Garza’s young protagonists deal with much more than just the supernatural: there are chupacabras and drug dealers, witches and bullies, a jealous cousin and the devil. Accompanied by the author’s dramatic black and white illustrations, the short, blood-curdling stories in this bilingual collection for ages 8 – 12 are sure to bewitch a whole new generation of young people.

Genres: Short Stories, Ghosts, Spanish Literature, Horror, Middle Grade

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2015

About the author

Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, author and luche libre aficionado Xavier Garza is a prolific author, artist, and storyteller whose work focuses primarily on his experiences growing up in the small border town of Rio Grande City. Garza has exhibited his art and performed his stories in venues throughout Texas, Arizona and the state of Washington. Garza lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Irma and their young son Vincent.

Reviews

[RTB: Review of Texas Books]

by Salena Parker

Xavier Garza’s The Donkey Lady Fights La Llorona and Other Stories is a bilingual, fun, and spooky collection of tales from Latin-American folklore that will incite laughter and fear from readers of any age, especially middle school readers. Readers simply need to vertically flip the book to engage in either English or Spanish text. Garza’s stories begin with a battle between La Llorona and the wicked Donkey Lady, both of whom are attempting to steal young Margarito—a non-believer in ghosts—and claim him as their own. As each of the following 11 chapters unfold, young protagonists encounter creatures like duendes, ghosts, thunderbirds, and El Diablo, all the while gaining insight into the importance of familial ties, respect, and the power of good ghost stories.

However, Garza does more than provide humor and chills; the children in these stories must navigate the real horrors of the world, like greed, jealousy, and neighborhood bullies, along with the supernatural. Younger readers will appreciate the jokes and struggles these child protagonists face, and hopefully use the adventures Garza depicts in his collection to build upon their imagination, confidence, and love for books. “Grandpa Tito’s Book” is a particularly enjoyable eerie tale. Each story establishes the cultural and historical backgrounds Garza stemmed from to create his collection, and gives readers the opportunity to improve Spanish reading comprehension.

In this collection, Garza effortlessly blends clear prose with vivid illustrations for a childish sense of wonder and fright that will continue to haunt readers.

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[Court]

Fun. And a good challenge to work out my High School Spanish.

[Shanna Klutts]

I enjoyed some of these…the idea of La Llorona and The Donkey Lady fighting over a soul was fun…but some of the stories were so short, they were over before they became good.

[Jim]

The stories are all very creative ideas. It was an excellent idea to include each of them in both English and Spanish.

I liked the use of myths - the Thunderbird of North American myth, La Llorona and chupacabra of Spanish-American myth, The Donkey Lady of southwest US legend, and the Latin American duende.

But there seemed to be something missing in the execution. Maybe it's because they were translated from the Spanish, but they seemed to be missing that end-of-story twist that I miss in children's scary stories. Or maybe they have that but they happen too early in the story for them to be a twist. It's almost like the story ends abruptly - but not with the twist.

As I mentioned, all the stories were great ideas - they could probably just use an editor or be re-written or massaged a bit to flow better. And build better suspense. Or, if they flow well in the original tongue, maybe a more experienced translator (who is also a writer) might attempt to translate them. (The more I read of them, the more it seemed to be something lost in translation.) Also, the stories could use more description to make the characters come alive; they seemed kind of flat.

I think my favorite story was Grandpa Tito's Book. Tunnels was pretty good, too. The Selfie was a little chilling; even if I did guess how it was going to end.

Additionally, all these stories are also included in Spanish.

Thanks to NetGalley, Myrick Marketing & Media, and Arte Publico Press for a copy in return for an honest review.

[Crystal]

This isn't truly horror, though that's the designation I'm giving it, but it is pretty creepy. The stories have just enough scare to them for middle grade readers, but not so much that they are likely to have nightmares. The stories are short and perfect for reading just one or two at a time. It's a bilingual book with English starting from one direction, and Spanish from the other when you flip the book.

The stories share Mexican American culture in several ways. One of which is having creatures and ghosts that are likely familiar to Mexican American readers or residents of Texas. These creatures/ghosts include La Llorona, a chupacabra (monster), brujas (ghosts), duendes (green monsters with glowing red eyes) and more.

Young readers who like creepy story collections will enjoy these tales and they would work well around Halloween too.

[Charity]

For full review please go to: 5girlsbookreviews.blogspot.com, Twitter @camartinez and Facebook "5 Girls Book Reviews"

REVIEW BY: Angel, age 12 years, 1 day until 13!

MAY CONTAIN SPOILER:

This book was unique, cheesy and scary.

My favorite character is the grandpa because he is hilarious and great at storytelling! My favorite part is when grandpa tells stories.

[Mary]

A collection of bilingual horror stories that feature Mexican inspired monsters and ghosts like La Llorona, Chupacabras and Donkey Lady. Although readers may be unfamiliar with some of the monsters, these references will be familiar to middle school and young adult readers in south Texas. This will appeal to the Goosebump crowd and are perfect for Halloween.

[Diane Ferbrache]

A collection of scary stories for middle grade readers in a similar style of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Each story features a mythical or magical creature threatens a child or young person. Every story ends happily, usually with the child triumphing over the creature or saving a friend or family member. Great fun, great scares!

[Kathy]

Short spooky stories with a Mexican flavor (La llorona, Chupacabra, etc) for middle-grade children. Flip the book and read the same stories in Spanish. Cuentos cortos escalofriantes con sabor mexicano (La llorona, chupacabra, etc) para niños en grados medios. Da la vuelta al libro para leer los mismos cuentos en inglés

[Sandie]

Well-written short stories that are perfect for Halloween -- all have to do with Mexican folktales.

[Jennifer]

Several scary short stories with lots of Hispanic/Mexican American folklore.