Excellent, stylized art and a very well told tale.

This Traditional Literature children’s book is written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, winner of the Pura Belpré award in 2017). This is a story that explains how two volcano’s came into being outside Mexico City, one named Popocatépetl, the other called Iztaccíhuatl. The story opens with the Mexican princess Izta (daughter of an emperor) shown teaching children poetry or flor y canto. Izta is noted by her people as beautiful and kind but who also wasn’t interested in the many suitors that visit offering gifts. That is, until a warrior name Popoca turns up, recognizes her for her kindness, and while he doesn’t have fancy gifts, he pledges to stay with her no matter what happens if she chooses him as her mate. The princess was so moved by his humbleness, she fell in love with Popoca. Much like many classic stories, the emperor wasn’t happy that his daughter wants to marry a poor soldier so the father sends Popoca on a dangerous mission of war to prove bravery and worthiness. It was a fierce battle and Popoca and his brave men were finally winning over the odds against them when their rival sent a message to Izta, lying to her that Popoca had been killed in battle. She was so sad, she willingly took a potion sent by the rival that puts her in such a deep sleep that the prince carries her limp body to the top of a mountain to wait to see if she’ll awaken. As he promised, he stays by her side. Even when it snows and they both become so still, they’re covered in the snow together. The book ends showing the two volcano’s the warrior and princess eventually become as they stay together forever, dedicated and side-by-side above the city. The glossary in the back explains that while the words in the book look a lot like Spanish, they’re in a language of the Nahuatl (Aztec) people who first told this story. The author’s note says while that the legend’s author is unknown, the story has been passed down through multiple generations of storytellers over the past many centuries with different variations. This book appealed to kindergartens during a read-aloud and the vivid pictures are easy to view by the whole group listening.