Nacho and Lolita

I liked this book very much. It was a definite 10 out of 10. The point of view that this book presented was from Nachos perspective. He is a beautiful bird who is saddened by being the only one of his kind. However, through mingling and meeting a group of swallows he decides to shed his beautiful feathers so they can find his village again. The way he narrates the book and describes his actions and feelings is lovely and shows his love for his new-found family. The illustrations are also a way for the author to enhance the story. It began as a black and white background with just Nacho as the beautiful colorful object. However, as he sheds his feathers and beautifies the barren land the land is now colorful and he is grey. This shows show more true representation of shedding one selves beauty and finding the beauty in others which I feel is that main message that the author was trying to convey. show less

What a darling picture book! I especially love the fact that there is real history behind the story, that San Juan Capistrano is a real place and that this story was loosely based on a Mexican folktale.

Nacho is a brilliantly colored bird that falls in love with a sparrow that migrates away from San Juan every year. The sparrows are distressed because they may not be able to return to San Juan because of the drought and the lack of river-hydrated plants that serve as a beacon.

Nacho gives up his pride and joy - his feathers - in order to illuminate the landscape to help his beloved Lolita to return.

Darling book that would be a great read-aloud and jumping off point for studying about California, the missions and environmental issues.

Nacho is a pitacoche bird, the only one around. Nacho knows he is different, but he falls in love with a swallow who has made her nest by the church's bells. He grows to love Lolita's chicks too, and when the cold comes she begins to talk about leaving for the season. Nacho begs Lolita to stay, but she insists that is too cold and she must migrate with the other swallows. Lolita devises a plan to help him come with the swallows. When the plan falls through, he has to say goodbye, singing sad songs sending his love for Lolita out with his songs. Nacho uses his feathers to bring plants and flowers to attract the swallows back to his home. Although he has lost his colors, Lolita finds them and they live happily together.

Summary

The beautiful bird Nacho was the only pitacoche around. He was colorful and admired by all and they equally enjoyed his singing. But Nacho was lonely. He longed to have a family with which to share his life. With the change of the seasons came the swallows and Nacho met and fell in love with Lolita and soon formed a family with her and her chicks. Sadly when the summer ended the swallows had to fly away to warmer weather. Lolita feared they may never come back to that area because the river was drying up. They tried to take Nacho with them but he was too heavy and he could not fly that far on his own. They had to leave him behind. In the midst of his sadness Nacho remembered that when he plucked his feathers they became flowers show more and a grey feather grew in tis place. Nacho began to pluck his feathers one by one and plant them. Flowers and trees began to bloom everywhere as Nacho turned grey. He only left one feather unplucked hoping that the swallow would return to a now beatuiful place and that he would see his Lolita again. Of course the swallow returned and Lolita did not care that Nacho was now gray. In her eyes he would always be beautiful.

Critique

This is a beautiful story of love and sacrifice. Nacho was beautiful to the eyes and his singing was pleasing to the ears. Nacho enjoyed being admired. The book emphasized that there was one thing to Nacho that was more important than his beauty and he was willing to sacrifice for love. The story was well written and engaging and ended with the thought that sacrifice pays off in the end. It is a great book to teach children how to focus on the things that are priority and to work toward accomplishing those things.

Prompts

p4. Nacho was the only one of his kind. Discuss some of the things that made Nacho unique. Why did that not make him happy?
p.5 Nacho thought the swallows were everything he was not. Why did he feel that way?
p17. Predict whether Nacho would be able to fly away with the swallows. Why or why not?
p.24 "Nacho knew what he must do." What do you think Nacho is planning to do?

Craft element for mini-lesson

After the swallow left Nacho made a great sacrifice. What was the sacrifice he made, why did he do it and was Nacho's sacrifice worth it? show less

Pam Munoz Ryan weaves a wonderful tale using Mexican folklore to illustrate the bonds of friendship. She intermixes the Spanish language to enrich the cultural folktale. The beautiful illustrations by Claudia Rueda enrich the reading experience and bring the story to life. I would recommend this book based on the themes and cultural connections.

Summary: Nacho is rare and majestic bird. He is the only pitacoche for thousands of miles. He so proud of beautiful feathers, and of his amazing songs. However even with all that he still wishes he had someone to share it with. Soon the people in the valley of San Juan began to prepare for the feast of St. Joseph. During this time period, swallows come to nest. This is where Nacho meets a swallow named Lolita. After that his life changes. He begins helping the shallows birds. He even gives Lolita one of his feathers that turns into a blue hibiscus. The spot where he pulled his feather came from another one grew back but not in color. It grew back grey. Nacho begin to spend a lot of time with Lolita and her chicks when they had hatched. show more He was filled with affection, and purpose. He couldn't remember a time before meeting Lolita. One day the shallows were reminded by the wind that their time was almost up in San Juan. Nacho was upset that Loltia would have to leave. He was even more upset that she might never come back because the water was drying out. He pleaded for Lolita to stay, but she couldn't because she couldn't survive the winter. Nacho couldn't go with Lolita either because he can't fly very far without getting tired. But Lolita comes up with a plan. So they try it, but it doesn't work. Nacho comes the realization that him and Lolita are not meant to be together. Nacho's heart was filled with sadness. One-day Nacho came up with an idea to help the shallows find their way back. He picked all his feathers, but one. With his feathers he was able to make water, mustard, papees, orange trees. He sacrificed his pretty feathers in hopes to see Lolita again. He's sacrifices was worked. Lolita and Nacho were reunited.

Critique: This book is a folktale about Hispanic culture. I would so recommend this book to anyone. I loved how it was filled with lots of Spanish words, and colorful pictures. The pictures really capture the story. It's a love story, and who doesn't love a good love story. I know I do. This book will keep readers interested in it because is so suspenseful. Nacho finds love but then loses it. The readers will keep reading to find out how the story ends and if Nacho gets that love back.

Prompt: Do a picture walk before reading this to your students. Find out what they think this book is going to be about.
Have a white piece of paper on the board with some of the Spanish words already written on it. Before reading have the students see if they can tell you what those words are in English. (This is for those duel enrollment classes).

Craft Element:
Reading- Teach students about Mexican and Mexican American cultures while teaching students the different cultures around the world.
Writing- Have the students write a different outcome for the end of the book. For example- the shallow birds don't come back and Nacho is left alone with only one colorful feather. She how creative your students can be. show less

"Nacho and Lolita" is a love story between to completely different birds. Nacho is a colorful, bright pitacoche who is unique in every way, one every thousands if years. He is fasinated by the familia fantasitica, flock of swallows that migrate to California. He loved the way the swallows always stayed together and leave to "another world". Nacho was a lonely bird with a lovely voice, with no one to sing to. He could not fly long distance, unlike the swallows, because of his big, heavy body.
One day, when the swallows came to California, Nacho fell in love with a swallow named Lolita. She was fasinated by his colorful feathers and beautiful song. Nacho began helping the swallows during their stay in California, "especially Lolita". show more Their relationship grew as time passed by. Soon it was time for Lolita to migrate to the south Americas, Nacho was worried and scared to never see Lolita again. She asked him to come along, using a log to let him float above water to take breaks along the journey. As the date came to leave, Nacho soon found himself unable to leave with Lolita, he was "bound to land". Nacho was sad at Lolita's flight, she wondered how he could get her to return and came up with a plan. His colorful feathers were majestic and gave life to the places he planted. He was willing to sacrifice his beautify for his love, and began planting his feathers all over the land, preparing for the next migration. Every feather lost was replaced by a gray feather. Soon, the swallows returned to a colorful land and Lolita was amazed at the sacrifice Nacho had made for her, she did not care about the colors; she loved him.

This book is so colorful and vivid. I enjoyed the pictures in the book and the usage of the Spanish language to encourage the readers to try another language. I enjoyed the author's explanation of the book at the end to clearify the inspiration to write the book. The message of the book is to pay attention to the inside of a person, not the outside.

When reading, a point to clear for students is when Nacho gives a feather to Lolita as they are getting to know each other and what happens at ending of the story. Also, ask about what the students think about Nacho's and Lolita's personalities--how are they different or same? What was wrong with Nacho's plan to cross the ocean? Could a pitacoche and golondrina be happy together?

An activity to do with this book is a diagram to compare and contrast the main characters in the story. You can also list the cause and effects of Nacho's feathers from beginning, middle and end. Another idea would be to create and illustrate another solution for Nacho to cross the ocean, instead of the floating log. show less