Adelita : "Classic" Folktale / International

Tomie dePaola's book "Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story" is not only written by Tomie, but is also illustrated by him. Each page has Spanish vocabulary along with its English translation. The story begins a long time ago in a small Mexican village. A merchant, Francisco, and his young wife Adela found out that they were going to have a baby. An older lady who had been with the family for a long time named Esperanza came back to help them with the new baby once she was born. After their daughter was born, his wife Adela became very ill and passed away. Francisco named is baby girl Adelita in memory of her mother, Adela. It did not take long for Francisco to replace is sorrow with his love for his daughter and as Adelita got older, she became just as beautiful as her mother. Eventually, Francisco decided to remarry a woman named Senora Micaela de la Fortuna, a widow with two daughters named Valentina and Dulce. While Adelita was excited, Esperanza was nervous and unsure about the new woman and her two daughters. Things were fine for a while until Francisco died suddenly from an illness and everything changed. Adelita had to give up her beautiful bedroom to move to the attic and she no longer had any new dresses, but had to wear hand-me-downs instead. Valentina and Dulce were not kind to Adelita anymore and did not hide the fact that they disliked her. Because she was already spending all of her time with Esperanza, Adelita began helping with meals. One day, Dona Micaela came to the kitchen and told Esperanza that she no longer had the money to keep her around and kicked her out even though Esperanza offered to work for free and Adelita offered to share her room and bed if only Esperanza could stay. Adelita was left to prepare all of the meals and all of the house work. Then came the anouncement that there would be a party at the ranch of el Senor and la Senora Gordillo to celebrate their son coming home, Javier. Both Valentina and Dulce wanted to be the new wife of Javier and were very excited. When Adelita requested to go to the party, Dona Micaela denied her for she would be an embarrassment. After they left for the party, leaving Adelita behind,Esperanza came to her rescue. Using and old dress and shawl of Adelita's mother, Esperanza helped her get ready and took her to the party. Once Adelita arrived at the party, everyone was stunned by her beauty. To hide her identity, Adelita told them that her name was Cinderella. Javier instantly fell in love with her and when he told her this, Adelita became frightened and ran away. The next day, Javier declared that her would stop at every house in the town until he found his Cinderella. To make sure he knew what house to stop at, Adelita hung the shawl out the window for him to see. Upon entering the house, Dona Micaela told Javier that there was no one else there and that is when Adelita walked down the stairs in her mothers dress. Javier asked Adelita to marry him and Dona Micaela gave them permission. Dona Micaela and her two daughters were invited to the wedding because of her kind heart and Adelita and Javier lived happily ever after.
I liked the fun twist off of the original Cinderella and how Tomie used Spanish vocabulary. Many different lessons can follow reading this book to a class. It is even good to bring in some of the Spanish vocabulary because it gives them contest to associate the words with. You could even compare it to other Cinderella stories throughout the week and give a lesson on fairy tales and their "true" or historic versions. It is a good story that all children, especially young girls love and always enjoy hearing. The illustrations are very beautiful and colorful. You can read the expression on the faces of each character. The boarders on each page are just as colorful as the pictures of the characters and have a Hispanic style to them.
dePaolo, Tomie (2001). Adelita. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons.