Once Upon a Cuento

by Lyn Miller-Lachmann (Editor)

Once Upon a Cuento is an anthology of short stories by contemporary Latinx authors. The stories, written for young people, grade five and up, explore heritage and history, identity, language, and relationships from the perspective of Mexican-American, Cuban-American, Dominican-American, and Puerto Rican writers. In all, the collection features seventeen stories by well-known and emerging writers, most of which are original to this collection. Contributors include acclaimed Puerto Rican children's authors Nicholasa Mohr and Carmen T. Bernier-Grand; Cuban-American novelist, essayist, and poet Virgil Suárez; and Mexican-American short story writers and teachers Lorraine López and Sergio Troncoso.
The stories are grouped by theme—heritage, holidays, and contemporary culture; family life; friends and other relationships; and dealing with differences. Individual stories explore additional themes such as the challenge of making do with little money, the process of moving to a new country and learning English, and young people's relationships to animals and to the natural world. Each story contains an introduction that offers historical, cultural, and biographical information. A general introduction and list of works by the thirteen contributors offer further avenues for research and discussion.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

I've practiced writing ever since I was six years and invented an entire classroom of 24 kids who wanted to be my friends. The following year, my mother gave me a typewriter, and I started putting my stories on paper. It was my way of creating a world where everything worked out the way I wanted it to.

When I became a high school teacher, I started collecting my students’ stories, and I incorporated these into my first efforts to write for others. I taught English to refugees from Latin America and organized concerts of Latin American music, and the people I met inspired and encouraged me to write the novel that years later would become Gringolandia. After Gringolandia came out in 2009, I enrolled in the MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts and there gained the confidence to write the story I’d been avoiding or skirting for my life up to that point—growing up with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism that made it so hard for me to make and keep friends. My 2013 novel, Rogue, is based on two incidents that happened to me as a teenager.

In addition to my published fiction for preteens and teens, I have complete drafts of two young adult novels, one of them a companion to Gringolandia, and am writing a middle grade novel. I am also working on a graphic novel featuring a Lego town I’ve built, Little Brick Township, and the minifigures who live there and/or visit. The stuff that happens in Little Brick Township sometimes appears on my blog, along with tips for other Lego builders. While I occasionally offer writing advice, my blog mainly features my other interests, including the experience of living abroad and learning another language (I spent the last four months of 2012 in Portugal and hope to return), my work as assistant host of a bilingual radio show of Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese music, and what’s new in Little Brick Township.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are stories by Latino authors. They have some Spanish in them.
STORY 1: My Ciguapa by Juleyka Lantigua. A little girl who lives in the Dominican Republic is taught by her grandmother to be racist against Haitians.
STORY 2: A Nuyorican Christmas in El Bronx by Nicholasa Mohr. Story of the Puerto Rican experience in New York circa 1940s.
STORY 3: Adventures in Mexican Wrestling by Xavier Garza. A little boy's uncle takes him to a Mexican wrestling match.
STORY 4: Searching for Peter Z by Alvaro Saar Rios. A little boy's mom tells him his shirt (which says Peter Z on it) used to belong to a rock star. This has hilarious consequences.
STORY 5: Leaving Before the Snow by Fernando Ramirez. Wow. This is a horrible story. Cruel.
STORY 6: A Special Gift by Nicholasa Mohr. This is also a horrible story. Why would you give a little girl pets just to take them away from her? This is cruel. Just tell her she can't have a pet!
STORY 7: Initiation by Virgil Suarez. Life in Cuba under Castro.
STORY 8: Good Trouble for Lucy by Nelly Rosario. This is a strange little story about a girl who is good at math and misses her dead grandmother.
STORY 9: The Snake by Sergio Troncoso. This was a nice story about a little boy who feels embarrassed about existing. It has a happy ending.
STORY 10: Sara and Panchito by Nicholasa Mohr. A touching story about a little girl on welfare and the dog she loves.
STORY 11: Armpits, Hair and Other Marks of Beauty by Luna Calderon. A high school girl is in love with her best friend.
STORY 12: Learning Buddies by Lorraine Lopez. A boy gets an ESL partner.
STORY 13: Indian Summer Sun by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand. This is a cute story about a girl who moves from Puerto Rico to Conneticut and thinks that she'll never adjust. But she does, partly because of a cute boy.
STORY 14: Leti's Shoe Escandalo by Malin Alegria Ramirez. This is a good story about a teenage girl who is ashamed of her Mexican heritage. But she learns to be proud.
STORY 15: Dancing Miranda by Diane de Anda. Miranda loves to dance.
STORY 16: That October by D.H. Figueredo. A boy with polio plays baseball in Cuba, 1962.
STORY 17: Grease by Virgil Suarez. Thalidomide.

[Mary Louise Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourteen contemporary diverse Latino authors from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Repulic and Brazil, have contributed seventeen short stories to this anthology for youth. The stories are grouped by themes: Heritage, Holidays, and Contemporary Culure; Family Life; Friends and Other Relationships; Dealing With Differences

I particularly enjoyed the introductions to the stories which give biographical information about the author and the major themes and background of the stories.