Scary Stories From Mexican Grandmothers

by Diane Willsey

Mi hijos! Mi hijas! Come quick! I have found a very special present for you. It is a book, un libro, but not just any book. It is a special libro. You remember the old stories I tell you, the ones you laugh at when my back is turned? Well, here is a book that tells the same stories, the same cuentos! It is a book that comes from Mexican nanas like me. It tells stories from sus familias. And do you know what, my precious grandchildren, mi nietos? Many of these stories are nearly the same as the stories from mi familia. What did I tell you? Si, it proves that the stories are true. You should listen to your nana.

Inside this book you will find more than a dozen tales you might recognize from the folklore of southwestern America. Diane Willsey, a teacher, encouraged her students to talk to their own grandmothers and ask for their “scary stories.” Then she compiled the narratives into original tales to save them for future generations.

Prepare yourself. These chronicles can be truly frightening! When you finish, you might want to talk to your own grandmother and find the stories of your family.

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2019

Reviews

[Carol Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book of stories, a few of which I heard from my mother. I really enjoyed the style with a moral and lesson added to the end of each scary story! I am sending my copy to my niece with a note of the stories her grandmother told us both!!!

These are stories that can be told around a campfire - the lessons are priceless.

[Viv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh...

[Susieq_reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was probably one story that I thought was good. The others were too long, too detailed.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author, Diane Willsey combines the perspective of a cultural anthropologist, a literature teacher, and a lover of folklore in this anthology of Mexican scary (horror) folktales. She has taken several Mexican folktales that she was exposed to during her childhood and adapted them. She has created a narrative style of each tale and set them in modern settings it while still retaining the flavor of the original tale. Her versions of such classic tales as 'Dancing with the devil,' El Cucuy,' 'La Llorona,' 'El chupacabra,' 'La mujer de blanco,' 'La mano eluda,' and 'Bloody Mary' are colorful and engaging. The lesser know tales are also handled well. She also outlines the origins of each tale in the Afterword. I enjoyed this anthology of Mexican tales and recommend it to those who love scary and ethnic folktales.