The Lizard and the Sun: La Lagarita y el Sol

written by Alma Flor Ada

illustrated by Felipe Davalos

©1997.New York. Dragonfly Books.
AD580L
Picture Book. Bilingual. 

When the sun goes missing, all of the animals go looking for the sun, but all give up except one lizard. This folktale celebrate the lizard finding the sun and bringing sunlight back to the community.

I gave this book a 24/32. This book features beautiful illustrations are beautiful, although I cannot positively say that the images are not stereotypical and would love to hear thoughts on this from anyone who has read this book and knows more about this. There are some diversity of character, and a mixture of animal and people characters who interact, however, the lizard, who is referred to as a 'she' has to get help from the emperor, a male, which seemed stereotypical to me. The story line is definitely interesting and one that kid would probably like. This book really doesn't contain character development, in fact the characters seem rather flat. The grammar and language is definitely fine, however, all of the book is in English and Spanish, but the English pages always comes first. This may send the wrong message to children in our classes or lives for whom Spanish is their first language, that English is more important than the language of their home, which is not the impression that I would want students to have. There is some cultural relevance to this book, as it is based off of an indigenous folktale, however, i'm not sure how accurate this portrayal is to the original. I would recommend this book for grades kindergarten through 3.

Here are some literary elements: 

Personification: The animals in the story talk to each other and with the emperor.

Onomatopoeia: "Tock, tock, tock went the woodpecker's beak..."

Beginning, Middle, and End: In the beginning, the sun is gone and the animals are looking for the sun, but they all give up until it is only the lizard. In the middle, the lizard finds a shiny rock and the lizard, the emperor, and the woodpecker find the sun sleeping inside. At the end, the sun will only stay awake if there is music, dancing and festivals, which turns into a tradition. 

For a mini lesson on beginning, middle, and end, share with students the beginning, middle, and end of this story, and practice sharing out loud with other stories as well. Finally, have students try to identify the beginning, middle, and end on their own.