La Llorona By Joe Hayes

La Llorona By Joe Hayes
intermediate level 

Genre Folklore/Fiction/ Multicultural 
 The story tells a Hispanic legend passed by down by many generations. Stories were told to frighten children and to teach a lesson. The story is told in both English and in Spanish.

Illustrations  The illustrations reflect the characteristics and customs to the Hispanic culture in the story.

The book is about a legend of a mother named Maria who believed her beauty could get her anything she wanted. She wanted to find and marry a wealthy man. Maria found and fell in love with a ranchero who was also a musician. Her family warned her that he was not the marrying type but Maria ignored the advice and married him anyways. They had two children and were happy for a few years before he went back to his wild life as a cowboy and would stay away for months at a time. Her husband told Maria he wanted to put her to the side so he could marry a wealthy woman. This caused Maria to be angry and  she wanted to hurt her husband so she decided to drown her children in the river. After realizing what she had done she took her own life. The legend told to children is if you don't come home before it's dark the La Llorona will get you. She is said to be crying by the river and searching for her children.

Questions to ask for reader response
What do you think is the moral of the story?
Has anyone heard this legend before and if yes what are the differences between the stories?


Connection activities 
Students can put on a one act play. The play will have a narrator retelling the story to children and other students can play the characters from the story. Students should use props to that reflect the clothing attire and customs from the Hispanic culture.

Another activity students could research to find out if the legend is shared by other cultures and what are similarities and differences.

Personal response I selected this legend after finding it listed as a folklore known in the Southern states. The author heard the legend when he lived in a small town in Arizona that was near the border of Mexico. This was a known legend from his Mexican American friends where he learned and gained a lot of respect for the culture and decided to use it in his writing. I live in Texas and it is a very common legend still told today.



References
Hayes, J., Hill, V. T., & Pennypacker, M. (2004). La Llorona, the Weeping Woman: an Hispanic legend told in Spanish and English. El Paso, Tx.: Cinco Puntos Press.

 La Llorona [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Llorona-Weeping-Woman-English-Spanish/dp/0938317393