author: Natalia Toledo
author: Francisco Toledo
translator: Elisa Amado
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2007
all grades
Zapotec
It all began when Death saw that all the humans
and animals were having baby after baby but no one was dying, and the world was
getting way too crowded. To put an end to this population explosion, Death
challenges everyone to a rope-skipping contest and, being immortal, she thinks
she is sure to win. One by one, Man, Toad, Monkey, Iguana, Coyote, Rabbit and
Alligator keel over, and Death even manages to steal a pair of leather shoes
from Man’s body. Then along comes Grasshopper….
Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico’s best-known
contemporary Indigenous artists, created a series of engravings of Death
skipping rope with the animals, and Natalia Toledo wrote the accompanying story
in Zapotec. Interpreted into English by Elisa Amado, the story appears here in
Spanish and English.
Young readers will giggle as each animal is
enticed into Death’s game; and they will find out why you never hear Death when
she comes into a house, and why Grasshopper never did stop jumping. Light Foot / Pies ligeros complements the celebrations
of el Día de los Muertos. Highly recommended.
—Beverly Slapin
(published 10/17/15)
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