Retrieve Mayas Children: The Story Of La Llorona Created By Rudolfo Anaya Contained In Document

is a good adaptation of the popular story of La Llorona, The ending is the same as the original, but it is adapted for a younger audience, In the original story La Llorona kills her children in the river and later regrets it, This story offers a different interpretation, In this version La Llorona does not hurt her children, Mayas Children: The Story of La Llorona, written by New Mexican author Rudolfo Anaya and illustrated by Maria Baca portrays La Llorona as a sympathetic figure whose haunting spirit reflects the enduring memories of love and loss.
The book begins with an “Authors Note” in which Anaya explains his choice in diverging from the traditional myth.
The wellknown myth of La Llorona is about a woman who is wronged by her husband and, in a mad fit of jealousy, drowns her children in a river.
Once her head clears and she realizes what she has done, she cries out and wanders the river looking for her children.
As legend has it, the ghost of the “The Weeping Woman” has persisted in haunting rivers, lakes, and “lonely roads” ever since.
However, Anayas story, as you will see, varies from the common rendition in many ways, Although this myth is usually used by parents to scare children out of wandering alone at night, Anayas motive in retelling this tale is slightly different: “Instead of using La Llorona as a character to frighten childrenas she has been used by generations of parentsthis story teaches youngsters about mortality.
Through such motifs, I believe all myths of folktales can be adapted, especially for specific agegroups, to tell an interesting and valuable story”.
Indeed, the storys value has shifted from emphasizing safety through fear to focusing on love, mortality, and the fragile beauty of life and not to mention, a little lesson on “the birds and the bees”.


The story begins “long ago in ancient Mexico” on the day of the Festival of the Sun, when a baby girl, Maya, is born.
Maya is a child of the Sun God and destined to be immortal, She grows up to be beautiful, wise, and adored by everyone, even the Gods, All the Gods but one love her, Señor Tiempo, the God of Time, is outraged that Mayas destiny has slipped out of his control Maya is immortal and will live forever, despite the villains power to inflict the passing of time onto mortals.
Upon learning that Señor Tiempo is scheming against Maya, her parents take her up the mountain to the jungle, where, at the edge of a lake, Maya is to live alone, safe from Señor Tiempo and all other dangers.


Up in the mountains, Maya keeps busy by weaving baskets, making clay pots, and talking to the animals.
But eventually she becomes very lonely, Maya, taking the advice of her animal friends, decides to have children to keep herself company, At this point in the story, Anaya guides young readers through the following scenes with a creative metaphor for “the birds and the bees” that will undoubtedly humor adult readers.


As Maya grows to have many children whom she loves dearly, the reader experiences a sense of dramatic irony, anticipating the descent of Señor Tiempos wrath and the inevitable outcome of the wellknown myth.
As Señor Tiempos nefarious plot unfolds, we learn how La Llorona got her name, and came to wander the banks of rivers and lakes: “From that time on the villagers would hear Maya crying as she searched for her children along the edge of the lake.
” This tragic tale reminds readers of the ephemeral sweetness of life,

Rudolfo Anaya, professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico, is a widely influential author.
Before becoming a professor at UNM, he earned his BA and MA at the same institution and worked for some time as a public school teacher in Albuquerque.
Goodreads summarizes his many achievements as concisely as possible, noting that:
Rudolfo Anaya is widely acclaimed as the founder of modern Chicano literature.
According to the New York Times, he is the most widely read author in Hispanic communities, His works are standard texts in Chicano studies and literature courses around the world, and he has done more than perhaps any other single person to promote publication of books by Hispanic authors in this country.


Anaya has not only played an integral part in the diversification of literature, including childrens literature, but also in raising awareness of Latin American heritage and contemporary issues across the nation.


For those of you interested in viewing the full review and additional sources, check out my our blog at teachinglatinamericathroughliterature.
com Though it may be a picture book, this is not a book I would bring to younger students, but instead to use as an analysis of common cultural archetypes used in mythology and folklore.
This story was adapted from its original so it would be more palatable for children, With older students, it can serve as

a good comparison of how cultural values change over time, Hans Christian Anderson's retelling of classic fairy tales being one such example.
This story relates very well to Medea and the mythical banshees of Ireland, It would be a good exploration of mythical creatures and their role in the culture and values of societies.
The illustrations were interesting, but not really a style I found appealing, I didn't really like the author's purpose here, The story was changed so much from the classic version to try to make it palatable for small children.
I'm not personally a fan of jumping though hoops to avoid any mention of where babies come from for small children.
Read for Children's Lit class, La Llorona is a legend throughout many Latin American countries as the supernatural creature wandering alone at night weeping for her missing children, whom she has killed parents will often use this character to frighten children.
Anaya wanted to change this use, so he rewrote the legend to have La Llorona lose her children to Time, making the story a lesson in mortality instead.
In his version, a girl named Maya was born in ancient Mexico with the mark of the Sun God, indicating that she would be immortal.
Señor Tiempo, the god of time, was angry to hear this, since he wants everything to age and die he vowed that he would make sure Mayas children would not be immortal.
Maya grew her children from soil and seeds in clay pots and knew that she must keep the pots safe to protect her children however, Señor Tiempo tricked her into destroying the pots and led her children away, and Maya can still be heard crying for her children to return.
The censoring of this legend to remove the frightening elements particularly a mother killing her children, which would be very disturbing to a childs sense of safety and comfort with their parents! is very typical of childrens literature.
In ancient Mexico, the beautiful and magical grandchildren of the Sun God are endangered by the threat of Senor Tiempo who, jealous of their immortality, plots to destroy them.
La Llorona, the crying woman, is a legendary creature who haunts rivers, lake, and lonely roads taken from Author's Note.
Maya was born during the Festival of the Sun a Mexican Holiday, When she is born the priest, during the blessing notices that she has a birthmark on her shoulder that resembles the sun.
He declares that she is destined to be immortal, As Maya grows up into a beautiful woman she is noticed by Senor Tempo the god of time who delares that no one should be given immortal life.
So, he decides that since he cannot have Maya he will have her children, Upon the warning of the Priest her parents take her into the mountains to live for her own safety.
There she meets a young man who gives Maya seeds to add to her bowl of fertile soil, Before long Maya has 'birthed' many daughters and sons, Senor Tempo took her children from her and thus this tale eas derived, It is said the La Llorona comes out at night searching for her children and wailing in agony,

Anaya wrote this book to retell this ancient story that she had heard as a child, She did change some of the story because her book was intended for young audiences and she didn't want to frighten the children by telling them that LaLlorona harmed her children which is what she does in the original version.
However, I still feel that this book is too complicated for elemnetary students, Middle school students would be a better audience, Hmmm, not sure how I feel about this book, It is the retelling of the Latino Folktale of La Llorona, Both the story and the illustrations are slightly creepy, I think I would use this with an older class studying folktales, Maybe Middle school. I do want to research the original tale though, Interesting. .