Merry Navidad. Christmas Carols in Spanish and English
Come share the joy of a Hispanic Christmas!
In this warm and vibrant collection of traditional Spanish Christmas carols, or villancicos, noted authors Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy bring to life the holiday traditions of Latin America and Spain. The creative English adaptations by Rosalma Zubizarreta both capture the spirit of the originals and add a new dimension to the songs. And Spanish illustrator Viví Escrivá’s spirited illustrations are perfect backdrops for the lyrics, adding rich holiday flavor.
Come sing along! ¡Feliz Navidad! and Merry Christmas!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The celebration of Christmas was very important during my childhood and later during my children’s childhood. Although my family was not Catholic my parents considered celebrating Christmas an important aspect of our Cuban culture. Relatives came from other cities and every year we created a large and elaborate nacimiento or Nativity scene and during the many days we waited first for Decemnber 25 and later for January 6, or Día de los Reyes Magos, Christmas carols contributed to create a joyful atmosphere.
My childhood memories of Christmas are described in the vignette “Christmas for All” in Under the Royal Palms. In the Spanish version “Navidades para todos” en Bajo las palmas reales.
Christmas has also inspired many of my books: I Don’t Want to Melt or No quiero derretirme and The Golden Cage, or La jaula dorada both in the collection Stories the Year ’round, or Cuentos para todo el año. As it happens with many other stories in this twelve book collection these two books were inspired by my own children. One of the volumes of the series Stories to Celebrate or Cuentos para celebrar, co-authored with F. Isabel Campoy also centers on the dates of Dceember 25 and January 6: Celebrate Christmas and Three Kings Days with Pablo and Carlitos, or Celebra Navidad y el Día de Reyes con Pablo y Carlitos. Of course, on that series of multicultural celebrations there are also books dedicated to celebrate Hanukkah and Kawanzaa.
