Not Your Abuelita's Folktales

By: Dr. Maria J. Estrada

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"From the first page, M.J. Estrada pulled me straight into the book, into the towns in the deep Southwest, where magical creatures lurk behind every corner to spook and surprise you." - P.C. Darkcliff author of Deception of the Damned

These are not your grandmother’s folktales. . . .

“The Extravagant Stranger”
Rosa Maria has great plans to marry a rich man and never work a day in her life. One day, an extravagant stranger sweeps her off her feet and promises to give her all she desires. But not everything is as it seems.

“Unforgivable”
Beto Andrades is deeply in love with his neighbor Sarah Stan. Yet, as an undocumented teen, he doesn’t stand a chance with her. What is worse, her father hates all Mexicans. Will he ever be able to get her attention and help her see how amazing he is?

“Magical Bully”
Meet Rita, an inquisitive young girl with a budding scientific mind. Her world is perfectly logical, until she encounters a duende, a magical creature.

“Never Really Alone”
Isella’s boyfriend, Rich, is back from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He isn’t the same anymore, and she wonders if it’s time for them to break up.

Four gripping, no-holds-barred, supernatural tales for young adults.

Okay but needs a Southwestern narrator

My biggest gripe is the virtual voice. It mispronounced Spanish and regional words. I'm pretty sure someone from New Mexico with the classic Southwest accent would have read this book for a reasonable rate.

That being said, these are variations of actual stories my Abuela told me. The 1st one I also heard told by others and Rudolfo Anaya has a version as well. It's your classic...went to dance...met handsome man and left...he was evil/demonic/devil and I've heard that in Gallup, Albuquerque, Farmington, New Mexico- as well as Denver, Durango, Alamosa, Colorado and Phoenix, Tucson, Arizona. The story is usually told by grandparents but I did hear it from a friend's mom.

The dundee story is a modern take because it has computers and a modern setting. The ghost story is also something I've heard with different characters but the star crossed lovers theme is typical.

The last story was the most intresting and I liked the MIT part, because is shows Hispanic/Latino (I prefer a different term, in a different light. I'm trying to expose my kids to cultral stories. We listened to this on a road trip. I did have to skip parts because they were not appropriate for my elementary kiddo but listened later with my older teens. Both my Abuelas past and my kids don't have that. My mom is a Tribal Member and tells Tribal stories, specific to her Tribe but my kids repeat those with their friends. I want them to have a more robust Southwest repertoire. My family is Native and Chicano so these types stories are important to the region.

I appreciate the author for that. I can imagine others haven't heard anything like these before. My partner didn't and only knew about La Llaorna, El Cucuy and El Chupacabra. It can expose a new group of people to old folktales. Although these terrified me a small child.