Mi Familia Calaca / My Skeleton Family: A Mexican Folk Art Family in English and Spanish

Choices, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Best Children’s & Young Adult Books of the Year, Bank Street College of Education Junior Library Guild SelectionCome meet La Familia calaca! They’re just like everybody else. Except they’re all bones!Welcome to the family! It’s just like yours, but there’s something 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. This family is just so full of life! In this bilingual introduction to familial relationships, Cynthia Weill’s spirited text and artist Jesús Canseco Zárate’s playful, long-limbed sculptures introduce young readers to one family that’s a skeleton of fun! 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.