The Legend of Mexicatl

Title: The Legend of Mexicatl

Author: Jo Harper

Illustrator: Robert Casilla

Medium: Picture Book, Watercolors

Genre: Folklore, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Summary: This is a story about how a boy grows from a humble childhood to become a leader of his tribe which eventually later become today's people of Mexico, the country which was named from the name of a hero in the book.

Literacy Elements -

• Language: The writing is very simple, as if the author is telling a story, with a few unrecognized nouns, such as Mexicatl and Tenochititlan.
  
• Structure: Good structure and chronological, as if the story was telling from the start of Mexicatl's life to the day where the people are calling themselves as the "Mexicans"
  
• Theme: Patriotism, Teamwork, Happiness, and Harmony
  
• Illustrations: It's very interesting that the author chose to make the illustrations very simple, such as using a young man with a beautiful background of a stunning landscape, and I feel that he used it to enhance the legend that way and show the children why he is very successful in leading his people to the place where Mexico started.

Evaluation:

The reason why I chose the book is to follow my rule of going international with books and that I feel that my mission of finding a folklore picture book that should be multicultural but at the same time, appeals to the immigrants who lived or currently lives in the United States such as the Hispanics, including the immigrants from Mexico. The language is very simple yet fun to tell as if it was a story passed down from the ancestors to the present-day people from Mexico with the stunning illustrations.

Social Justice Element:

I feel that the social justice element is very minimal in this book, but very helpful if the children wants to learn more about the cultures, such as when and where the culture starts via folklores and/or legends, especially the children from Mexico who immigrated to the United States.

Follow-Up Activity:

After telling the story to the children, then have the children do a fun research project where I take the students to a library and have the children try to find a book similar to this book where it tells the story of how a culture, a clan, or a nation is established.