Juan and the Chupacabras/ Juan y el Chupacabras

by Xavier Garza

"The beast had dark green skin and glowing red eyes that were the size of two baseballs," Abuelo tells his wide-eyed grandchildren. According to Abuelo, a creature called the Chupacabras lurks in the fields looking for fresh victims. Young Juan and his cousin Luz savor Abuelo's hair-raising stories. He tells the children of defeating terrifying fiends like the Chupacabras and La Llorona. The children cling to every word as he describes his brave stand-off with the Chupacabras, a terrifying beast with wings, claws and sharp fangs. But yet they wonder if there's more to his strange story than meets the eye. Plucky Luz hatches a plan to either disprove Abuelo's tale or hunt down the menacing monster and put an end to it once and for all. Armed with a bag of marbles dipped in holy water and a sling shot, the children venture into a cornfield one moonless night in search of the truth. Just like Chupacabras's thirst for blood and the children's appetite for Abuelo's stories, young readers aged 3-7 will devour the pages of this exciting picture book that transmits the storytelling traditions of the Mexican-American community from one generation to the next.

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2006

About the author

Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, author and luche libre aficionado Xavier Garza is a prolific author, artist, and storyteller whose work focuses primarily on his experiences growing up in the small border town of Rio Grande City. Garza has exhibited his art and performed his stories in venues throughout Texas, Arizona and the state of Washington. Garza lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Irma and their young son Vincent.

Reviews

[The Reading Writing Puppet]

It’s okay, 2.5 stars. I don’t like the illustrations, but the Chupacabra drawing is cute. The story itself is okay, the grandpa is basically a liar and the poor children believe grandpa can do the things. But the children are brave and dumb. Lol.

[WriteTheVision]

i didn't think the writing was very good. it lacked finesse and skill, and the book as a whole could've been better edited. i saw a couple of errors with the subject/verb tense in sentences.

yeah. this book was no bueno.

[Jennifer]

This is a great book for Halloween about a feisty grandfather who shares his experiences of the supernatural with his grandchildren, Juan and Luz. The children's overactive imaginations make for one hilarious showdown late at night in a corn field. Holy water-blessed marbles + a case of mistaken identity = utter hilarity!

[anisa onofre]

This book started Maya's fascination for chupacabras and cucui's. Pretty well put together, except I omit the part where the grandpa's telling a story about La lorrona and how she drowned her babies.

[Valerie]

After their grandfather tell the children a story about the chupacabra they decide to wait in the cornfield to either prove or disprove his story. When the monster appears he sounds very familiar. The book is bilingual.

[Kathy]

I plan to use this book with my Spanish I students. I am going to have them read the parts written in Spanish and then have them put the story together. It will be like a puzzle. Cute story

[Caroline]

For 8s, ch. 4.

14 pages of bilingual text & lively, richly colored illustrations on facing pages.

[Vee]

Chupacabras y La Llorona

[Jon]

A children's book about everyone's favorite blood drinking, child stealing legendary creature!