The Song of El Coqui and Other Tales of Puerto Rico

by Nicholasa Mohr, Antonio Martorell

Three Puerto Rican stories include the title story, which represents the land's indigenous Tainos; the tale of la Guinea, which is rooted in the nation's African culture; and la Mula's tale, a story of Spanish origin.

Genres: Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Nicholasa Mohr (born November 1, 1938) is one of the best known Nuyorican writers. Her works tell of growing up in the Puerto Rican communities of the Bronx and El Barrio and of the difficulties Puerto Rican women face in the United States. She was raised in the Bronx. From 1988 through 1991, she taught at Queens College, City University of New York. From 1994 through 1995, she was Writer-in-Residence at Richmond College, the American University in London.

Reviews

[A Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up from my local library to consider as part of my lesson plan about Puerto Rico. The book holds three stories; the shortest story, "The Song of El Coquí", is ten pages long and the longest, "La Mula, the Cimarron Mule", is 14 pages. The first story tells readers "in the beginning there was no sound." In this story the god Huracán, who is saddened by the silence, creates a storm for a million years. After the storm, it is still quiet and Huracán is exhausted from creating the storm so he falls asleep. A noise wakes Huracán and he searches for the source, which of course is coquí. The second story, "La Guinea", tells the story of a hen who hides in a basket from slave traders but is still taken aboard a ship. When the hen arrives at the docks of Ponce harbor, she doesn't know where she is and the people say she is strange, evil, and a bad omen; "Let's get her!" screamed a policeman and the townspeople pelt her with rocks. Eventually, a mask-maker shows the hen kindness and calls her "interesting" instead of strange. When the hen is lonely, the man even finds her a mate! La Guinea and her family inspires the mask-maker who then rises to fame and fortune. In the third story, "La Mula", is treated poorly and then sold to another master who treats her poorly too. "She labored alongside the slaves, who were treated no better." However, La Mula makes friends with Otilio, who tells her about his people, Los Cimarrones, who he intends to return to. When Otilio escapes, La Mula's talent for climbing helps them reach the village safely, where she is praised for being such a good friend and companion. "To this day she continues to be revered and remembered as La Mula Cimarrona, who helped expand a Cimarron village of free people on the island of Puerto Rico. I really appreciate that the book's introduction explains the peoples that each animal represents; for example, the coquí represents the indigenous Taínos. With the book including some darker themes and at times a bit of text, I would recommend older kids being the target audience; this would be more fitting for my 10-year-old than my 5-year-old. I like this book, but I wish each of these stories got their own book! I personally would also love to see board book versions of each of these stories with less text and violence for younger audiences.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Actual Star Rating: 3.5 Stars***

This is a collection of three very different stories that are all suppose to take place either in or coming to the island of Puerto Rico. As a result some of the community names or other locations that were mentioned are actually places that I had heard before.

What makes this book interesting is that there are three very different stories included while the animal that is the main protagonist is meant to symbolize one of the ethnic groups that can be found on the island. Thus the first story about the creation of local only found frogs (The Song of El Coquí) is a nod to the local tribe of Tainos who lived on the island first. This is then followd by La Guinea the Stowaway Hen, which is a nod to the bringing of the African slaves to the island and La Mula, the Cimarron Mule discusses the slow combination of the Spaniard blood into the islands while combined together all three stories provide indirectly the history of Puerto Rico.

The illustrations for this book are just gorgeous with the majority of it being brightly colored swathes to provide atmosphere to each page whether it is the color of the sea, the darkness of tragedy or even the colors of night turning into day. For the rest each artistic component is brightly colored yet stands apart from the background colors while still sharing to the full ambiance on the page thus making for some breathtaking artwork to be paired with the stories.

Now whether these are actual folktales that can be found on Puerto Rico or not doesn't really bother me as much as it normally would just since of the creative twists this book did to bring me a bit of history and cultural acknowledgement even when those topics may have a bit of a bite to them. And furthermore there is an almost index in the back that provides the reader with definitions of some Puerto Rican words that were used in the book.

This is most definitely one book that I will recommend to readers of mythoi whether child or adult since it is fascinating. And also a book that should be incorporated into history lessons as well....

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice stories. Nothing horrific like you sometimes get surprised with in folktales.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stories that tell a separate tale from each of the peoples who contribute to the identity of people from the rich port.

[Lauren Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bright illustrations, and culturally instructive. Make sure to teach the vocab before reading to class!

[☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute story.