Big Moon Tortilla

November 1, 1998
K-Gr 3-A picture book set on a Tohono O'odham (Papago) reservation in southern Arizona. When the aroma of Grandmother's fresh tortillas fills her room, Marta Enos begins to daydream about them. Her toes twitch and her legs just can't wait to run to the cookhouse. She hurries off for a sample, but knocks over a table on the way. The wind picks up her homework papers and scatters them. The dogs outside think it's a game, and they eat her assignment. As Marta tries to regroup, her glasses fall off, she steps on them, and they break. Grandmother is sympathetic and offers the child a tortilla as "big and pale as a rising full moon" as well as wise words of advice from a Native American proverb about dealing with adverse situations. Watercolor illustrations in muted tones enhance this sweet tale.-Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA

August 1, 1999
Set on a Papago reservation in Arizona, young Marta's story unfolds across a watercolor desert landscape and in the warm, brown arms of her grandmother. The child's problems seem simple: her homework has blown away and her glasses have broken. Her grandmother teaches her how to face these small disasters with a sense of possibility and choice. (Gr 2-5)

Copyright 1999 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 1998
Ages 4^-8. A contemporary child gets help from an old story in this bright picture book set in a small desert village on the Papago reservation in southern Arizona near the Mexican border. Marta Enos' day is ruined when the wind blows her papers out the window and the dogs chew her homework into trash; then she trips and breaks her glasses. Grandmother comforts Marta Enos, repairs the glasses, bakes her some warm tortillas, and tells her a traditional tale about how to deal with a problem. Sometimes it is good to be a tree and look all ways at once; sometimes it is best to be a rock or a fierce mountain lion; but Marta Enos chooses to be an eagle, who can fly high and see how small the problem is. Strongbow's watercolor paintings set the story in wide desert landscapes as the sun sets and the full moon rises, and warm portraits show the loving bond across generations. Kids will like what Marta Enos learns: "Fly high and laugh. Then come back and do your homework." ((Reviewed October 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)