The award-winning children’s book, “Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos” by Patricia Santos Marcantonio will return April 7 with new illustrations and a bonus story, “Gato in Zapatos.”
The illustrator is Krista Hamel.
Twelve classic tales are retold and infused with Latino culture and characters, giving them a new life and relevance. “Red Ridin’ in the Hood” takes place in a barrio where the resourceful Roja meets a wolf in a lowrider. Set in a high school, “Emperador’s New Clothes” is about a popular but heartless teen obsessed with style. A retelling of a Greek myth unfolds in an Aztec city in “El Día de los Muertos.” In a twist on the Sleeping Beauty, a young witch who wants love serves up a cursed tamale against her annoying rival. And in the bonus story “Gato in Zapatos,” inspired by Puss in Boots, a cat bored with chasing mice helps a fashion designer seeking inspiration for her new collection.
Includes a glossary of Spanish words. A print version and EBook will be available on Amazon on April 7.
Marcantonio is an award-winning writer and the author of the Felicity Carrol mystery series (Crooked Lane Books); Verdict in the Desert and Trini’s Magic Kitchen (Arte Público Press, the largest US publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors); Under the Blood Moon (Dark Ink); YA novel Best Amigas (Fitzroy Books); and Misbehaving at Cactus Lanes (One More Chapter/HarperCollins.) She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and received Alexa Rose Foundation Grants for her plays. Her children’s play, Roja Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Tales, based on the Red Ridin’ book, has been published by Pioneer Drama Service.
Hamel is a recent graduate from the Boise State University Honors College where she received her BFA in Illustration and completed her first published children’s book, My Brother is a Kool Kid.
“Krista’s illustrations bring a wonderful warmth and humor to the stories,” Marcantonio said.
Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos was previously published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and won an Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice Award, was an Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature Commended Title, and named one of the Wilde Awards Best Collections to Share.
An Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award winner
“The straw of classic plots is spun into gold by the language and point of view of Latino culture.”
