Martina una cucarachita muy linda / Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

by Deedy, Carmen Agra

• ISBN13: 9781561454259
• ISBN10: 1561454257
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-01
• Publisher: Peachtree Pub Ltd

Summary

The beautiful Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha doesn't know coffee beans about love and marriage, so when suitors come calling, what is she to do?

Luckily, she has her Cuban family to help! While some of the Cucarachas offer Martina gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her some useful advice: spill coffee on his shoes to see how he handles anger. At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela's suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love.

After reading this award-winning retelling of the Cuban folktale, readers will never look at a cockroach the same way again. Carmen Agra Deedy delivers a delightfully inventive Cuban twist on the beloved Martina folktale, complete with a dash of café Cubano and now available in Spanish.

Author Biography

CARMEN AGRA DEEDY is an award-winning storyteller and the author of numerous bestselling books for children. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1960, she emigrated from her homeland during the Cuban Revolution, a move that has profoundly affected her life and her work. Carmen and her family found sanctuary in the United States under the JFK Cuban Refugee Act of 1963. They settled in Decatur, Georgia, where they coped with the separation from loved ones still in Cuba and slowly acclimated to cultural differences. The Agra family ultimately succeeded in starting over and rebuilding their lives. While Deedy's storytelling reflects these themes of separation and deprivation, she is better known for her razor-sharp wit and light, entertaining style. Also essential to Deedy's experience are her strong sense of perseverance and her dual heritage, drawn from growing up steeped in the riches of both Latin American and Southern culture.