Reviewed by: Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children
Book Author: Sarah Rafael García
Storyteller and visual artist Sarah Rafael García offers six “Fairy Tales for Trust and Justice,” all of them set in Santa Ana, a city in southern California that borders “the happiest place on Earth.” But that place is “never happy” for the brown people who live and work there, who live in fear of the landlords, the police, and ICE. In the first story, “The Carousel’s Lullaby,” we see the stakes, as teenager Saul remembers the carousel where he reunited with his parents after their separate migrations across the border, where he and his younger brother spent so many joyful weekends until Señor Billy Spurgeon, the real estate developer, tore it down to make way for shops and restaurants for rich Anglos. One night, Saul sneaks out to hear the ghost of the carousel, and never comes home—one more unarmed person of color killed by police. Continue reading.
Cuentos de SanTana by Sarah Rafael García
Published by Raspa Magazine on March 17th 2017
Genres: Economic Class, Family, Immigration and Emigration, Mexico, Stories in Verse, Teen Years
Pages: 185
Reading Level: Grades 6-8, High School
ISBN: 9780692860304
Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children
Publisher's Synopsis: SanTana's Fairy Tales is an oral history, storytelling project initiated by author Sarah Rafael GarcIa, which integrates community-based narratives to create contemporary fairytales and fables that represent the history and stories of Mexican/Mexican-American residents of Santa Ana.
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