The Cazuela That The Farm Maiden Stirred- Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway

 

It is time for another virtual book tour. Today is the turn of the awesome picture book The Cazuela That The Farm Maiden Stirred.

 

You can still visit and leave comments on the day number one and two of the book tour. You may be a lucky winner of this fantastic book.
   

Day 1: Monday, February 28th  (Book Review)– The Latin Baby Book Club

Day 2: Tuesday, March 1st (Book Trailer)– The Tiki Tiki Blog

Ladies and gentlemen 

and children of all of ages!

 

 I present day number 3 with the Illustrator's, Rafael Lopez, Story Behind the Story.

Stirring the Pot of Color 

 

Did you know that it takes an elephant 22 months of waiting before it's calf is born? Bringing a book into the world takes just about that long. When the advance copy finally arrives on your doorstep in the well worn hands of the delivery man you rip the package open with a mix of fear and excitement. That happened to me today.

Speaking of reproduction, for me fear usually revolves around the accurate reproduction of my color. Was the brave printer able to reproduce the hues and subtle textures that I scraped, dabbed and coaxed into life? With each and every book I have learned to expect calls from the adventurous art director attempting to match the azuline blue of a Mexican tile or eggplant purple of a passing cloud. Proof after proof is sent back and forth from artist to printer until the heat of the flames under the pot is just the right radiant shade of amarillo-oro.

For me color is an expression of my identity, my heritage and I believe it is the most direct route to the emotions of children and families who will turn the pages of my books. As a new book enters into this world you feel like celebrating when recognizing a familiar hue that resonates for you. You breathe a sigh when you see the pages where the farm maiden cries "Ay!" and the pot full of arroz con leche simmers, sputters, and bubbles with color on the stove.

I'm so excited to share with readers this new book The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred from the playful hand of clever writer Samantha Vamos. When a farm girl starts cooking, a bunch of magical animals want to get into the kitchen and help [reminds me of my childhood when my mother made Christmas tamales]. The cow brings milk, the hen her eggs and the duck with a straw hat heads to the mercado for just the right ingredients. There's a resourceful donkey in cowboy boots who plucks a lime off the tree to add to the simmering pot. Eventually they break out the spoons, a drum, banjo and maraca and start to sing and dance. At the end of the book you will find the recipe for delicious Arroz Con Leche Latin American Rice Pudding. This book is a spicy tribute to the classic nursery rhyme "The House that Jack Built" and is a bilingual celebration of community and food.

I want to thank my Charlesbridge family for faithfully reproducing my colors and I'm grateful for the patience of art director Susan Sherman for her help stirring up the colors of La Cazuela.

A few weeks ago I visited a public elementary school to talk about books and drawing. A boy asked me "where do stories come from?". I really love the questions kids ask because they cut right to the chase and find out what we all want to know. With that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to ask my friend, writer Samantha Vamos how she got the idea for La Cazuela . 

To see what she had to say please follow the blog tour tomorrow at day 4, March 3rd – Mama Latina Tips.

The final stop of the book tour will be this Friday, March 4th (Author Interview)– Spanglish Baby

 

Giveaway

Samantha Vamos has offered 3 autographed copies to be given away to 3 lucky readers. The winners will be chosen from all of the comments left on ALL of the blogs. Readers have until Sunday night, March 6th, at 11:59 pm PST to leave a comment on one or all of the blogs. (They can get up to 5 chances by leaving a comment on each blog.) Monday morning, the winners will be chosen via Random.org and notified via email.