Kiki Kokí: La Leyenda Encantada del Coquí (Spanish Edition)

K-Gr 2--In this Spanish-language picture book, Rodriguez presents one of the legends surrounding the unofficial symbol of Puerto Rico: the coqui. A Taino boy, Kiki Koki, does not like doing any work around his village. As a consequence, he is banned from attending the Moon Festival. A torrential rain sweeps the boy away and nearly drowns him until two frogs save his life. When discovering that the moon goddess has turned him into a little golden frog, Koki is overcome with sadness. The lizard witch, Mona, tells him that he must remain in "Frogville" (la villa de las ranas) and do good deeds for 30 days before he can ask the goddess to change him back into a boy. Rodriguez takes artistic license with his full-color, Disney-like cartoon illustrations and cherry-picks period dress and architecture from the entire span of post-conquest Puerto Rican history. The frogs are depicted wearing everything from top hats to guayabera shirts, both of which were nonexistent in the 1500s. In addition, town life features snow-cone pushcarts and a SpongeBob-inspired pineapple house. Aside from this revoltijo (medley) of disparate details, the story and illustrations are entertaining and even introduce a motley gang of pirates who want to frognap and enslave all of Koki's amphibian friends. Koki saves the day and learns a lesson about the importance of cooperation. VERDICT Young readers will enjoy this Taino Indian origin myth.--Mary Margaret Mercado, Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"In this Spanish-language picture book, Rodriguez presents one of the legends surrounding the unofficial symbol of Puerto Rico: the coquí. A Taíno boy, Kiki Kokí, does not like doing any work around his village. As a consequence, he is banned from attending the Moon Festival. A torrential rain sweeps the boy away and nearly drowns him until two frogs save his life. When discovering that the moon goddess has turned him into a little golden frog, Kokí is overcome with sadness. The lizard witch, Mona, tells him that he must remain in 'Frogville' (la villa de las ranas) and do good deeds for 30 days before he can ask the goddess to change him back into a boy. Rodriguez takes artistic license with his full-color, Disney-like cartoon illustrations and cherry-picks period dress and architecture from the entire span of post-conquest Puerto Rican history. The frogs are depicted wearing everything from top hats to guayabera shirts, both of which were nonexistent in the 1500s. In addition, town life features snow-cone pushcarts and a SpongeBob-inspired pineapple house. Aside from this revoltijo (medley) of disparate details, the story and illustrations are entertaining and even introduce a motley gang of pirates who want to frognap and enslave all of Kokí's amphibian friends. Kokí saves the day and learns a lesson about the importance of cooperation. VERDICT: Young readers will enjoy this Taíno Indian origin myth." —School Library Journal