Title: Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale
Author: Duncan Tonatiuh
Genre: Folktale / Mexico / Immigration / Family / Drama
Year Published: 2013
Year Read: 2016
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 5+ (Some Intense Moments)
Now, I have read many children’s books that dealt
with people from other countries immigrating to America for a better life. But, I had never read a children’s book that went
in depth with the immigration between Mexico and America and the reasons behind
it. “Pancho
Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale” by Duncan Tonatiuh is such a tale that tackles the subject of immigration
and yet also discusses about the importance of family in such an informative
and effective way!
The story starts off with Papa Rabbit going off to
the carrot and lettuce fields far away to the North in order to earn extra
money for his family. Unfortunately,
when Pancho and his family eagerly await the arrival of Papa Rabbit, Papa
Rabbit never showed up back home and Pancho and his family started getting
worried about Papa Rabbit. So, late
during the night, Pancho decided to go out and find Papa Rabbit himself, while
packing some of his father’s favorite food, which included mole, rice and
beans, tortillas and a jug full of fresh aguamiel. Along the way, Pancho meets up with a coyote
who tells Pancho that he can take him to his father if Pancho gives him the
food that he is carrying. Even though
Pancho did not want to give up the food he was going to give to his father, he
longed to see his father again, so he decided to give the coyote all of his
food. Once the coyote realizes that Pancho
ran out of food…
What
will the coyote do to Pancho?
Read
this book to find out!
Wow! This
book was simply amazing and heartwarming at the same time! I just loved the way that Duncan Tonatiuh wrote this book as the
writing was extremely touching and sharp and I loved the way that he wrote the
characters, especially Pancho Rabbit himself.
I loved the fact that Pancho was a brave and determined child who only
wanted to see his father and the fact that he journeyed across the desert with
his food barely intact really showed his determined nature throughout the
story, which made him into such an inspiring character. Duncan
Tonatiuh has done a splendid job at explaining about the obstacles that
most immigrants face whenever they are migrating to another country in order to
provide more food and money for their families and I like the fact that there
was more emphasis put on Papa Rabbit trying to provide for his family rather
than explain how his situation as an immigrant would have been treated in another
country. I also loved the little
author’s note at the end where Duncan
Tonatiuh provided statistics regarding immigrants coming to America and how
to look at the situation from an immigrant’s perspective instead of assuming
false facts about their situation in going to America to get a good job. Duncan
Tonatiuh’s artwork is highly creative as it is hand drawn and then collaged
digitally and it gives the book a unique feel as I rarely see artwork where you
see cut outs from magazines being combined with hand-drawn artwork. I also loved the Mexican influence of the
artwork as it made me feel like I am living in Mexico right as I am reading
this book!
The only problem I had with this book was that the
ending felt a bit abrupt as there was a major plot point that happened near the
end of the book and it was not quite resolved. I would have liked to see that
plot point actually be resolved towards the end of this story. I will not give out too many details about
what happened at the end since I do not want to spoil anything, but let us just
say that it dealt with people stealing items from one of the characters.
Overall, “Pancho
Rabbit and the Coyote” is a truly lovely story about the experiences of
immigration and the importance of family that many children will enjoy for
years! I would recommend this book to
children ages five and up since some of the Mexican language might be a bit hard
for smaller children to understand.
* 2014 Pure Belpre Honor for Narrative
* 2014 Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award for Younger Children
I'll have to look for this. My school has immigrant families, though none currently that are from Mexico.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is a really good book to read about immigration!
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