Victor Montejo, Illustrated by Rafael Yockteng,
White Flower
Groundwood Books, 2005.

Rating: E*

A poor young man journeys far through the land to ask his king for a job. While on his journey, he is approached by a Mayan demi-god in disguise and refuses the demi-god’s offer of wealth, as he realizes he will lose his spirit in the afterlife.

Once he arrives at the kingdom, the young man approaches the king only to find out that the king is the very creature he talked to and refused in the forest. Luckily, White Flower, the Mayan princess, intervenes. As her father sets the young man increasingly difficult tasks, she helps him complete them successfully. The two young people fall in love and decide to run away, but there, too, their difficulties are not over. They finally end up together, of course.

This book is a wonderful rendition of a folktale originally brought to the New World by Spanish settlers. Based on the story Victor Montejo was told by his Mayan grandmother, this  tale would be a great addition to a classroom or school library.

It is appropriate for a read aloud and would be very appropriate for a curriculum about the Aztecs.

Thematic Links: Folk Tales

Susan Miller
Vol. 11, number 3
February 2006

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.