Review by Ariadna Sánchez
Nature and its colors serve as an inspiration for writer Antonio Ramírez and acclaimed Oaxacan artist Domi to create Napí.Their creativity portrays the one-of-a-kind beauty and the heritage of the Mazatec region located in Oaxaca, Mexico. Simple words, filled with sentiment, are the ingredients that make Napí a priceless tale.
Napí is a mazatec girl who loves to dream. She enjoys listening to her grandfather’s stories while sitting near the river. As her náa or grandmother braids Napí’s hair, the stunning sunset covers the Mazatec region with bright orange, intense violet and dark green. A starry sky is the perfect blanket for Napí’s good night sleep. Napí dreams that she is a white and tall heron. By being a heron, Napí flies high in the sky and admires the gorgeous region as her wings flap in the air like if they were dancing with the wind. Napí wakes up each morning in her comfortable and cozy bed thinking about what the next dream will be about.
Visit your local library to check out more cheerful stories. Remember, reading gives you wings!
Find more of Domi’s great illustrations at:
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Our fourth geographical area for our readaloud PaperTigers Reading Challenge book this month is the Americas and we chose Deborah Ellis’ I Am a Taxi. I was slightly concerned that it might prove too much for Little Brother (aged 7): but by making sure that we read the last few chapters during week-end morning “book sessions” rather than at bedtime, we had plenty of discussion time (drugs…) and no nightmares! Diego, the book’s 11-year-old hero, became a real person to my two boys. They absorbed details about Bolivia; they compared details of Diego’s life with their own; and they goggled at the encounters with nature in the jungle. It was salutary for me to observe that they did not really pick up on the sinister side to Smith until it was completely obvious, but trusted him as someone who was kind to Diego, which in the immediacy of dealing with jungle beasties, he was. This did, however, make the climax particularly shocking for them. It is a book that I think they will both pick up and read for themselves in a few years’ time – for now, it has been a very exciting readaloud for us all.
For more, take a look at what Shelf Elf and Elisabeth thought about it too.
Little Brother’s book also came from the Americas – Napí by Antonio Ramírez and illustrated by Domi. Here’s what he has to say about it:
Napí is about a little girl called Napí who loves to dream. She is a Mazateca Indian from Mexico. She likes herons and I think it’s beautiful when it says the trees bloomed with herons and it’s also quite funny. Napí often dreams she’s become a heron. The river dresses itself in different colours. The river smiles up at her and the rocks on the riverbank form teeth. In her dream she was followed by the moon and carried by the river and the moon had a face and the river had hands. The pictures had all the colours I know and some I didn’t. They are so spectacular! I give it 10/10!
La Bloga and Gina MarySol Ruiz have both published reviews in the past too…
Meanwhile, Older Brother (9) travelled to the other side of the world and read Kakadu Calling by Jane Garlil Christophersen, an elder of the Bunitj clan in Kakadu National Park, Australia:
These adventure stories are all set in the Australian Bush. I liked the book because all the stories had animals in them – a snake, a dingo and a hermit crab - as I love animals and it’s wonderful to me to be reading about wild animals in Australia. My favourite story was about a young boy who had to wait four full moons until his parents came to pick him up from his grandparents but he decides he wants to get home sooner and runs away. On his way he meets some buffalos and he wakes up to find a snake slithering across his chest. He wanted to run but he heard his father’s voice telling him to stay really still.
So, we have but one more book to go in our Reading Challenge 2008… We’ve been taking it gently but I would say there’s still time to leap in there; and at the end of the month, be ready to tell us your final booklists. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Napi Goes to the Mountain
Author: Antonio Ramirez
Illustrator: Domi
Publisher: Groundwood Books
ISBN-10: 0888997132
ISBN-13: 978-0888997135
Napi is back! Antonio Ramirez brings the wonderful character Napi back along with her little brother in this new book that gives greater insight into the lives of the Mazateca Indians that live in Oaxaca. Domi’s marvelously sweeping illustrations fill the book with great washes of greens and browns that cover every inch of the page.
The story begins with Napi’s father gone missing. He’s been seen being taken away by some men “because we’ve been fighting for our land”. Napi is extremely worried and gets her brother to go with her looking for their father. They go upriver and run into various animals important in Mexican folklore and mythology. To each they ask if they have seen their father and each time the answer is no.
At one point, Napi and her brother are transformed into deer, a very important symbolism to the Mexican indigenous people. The deer is a very spiritual animal for us. The deer means a lot in Mexico. It’s a symbol on the Aztec calendar, the Yaqui Indians have a very famous deer dance, us danzante Aztecas have our prayer dance called venado, the Spanish word for deer, Jesus Helguera used a baby deer in his emotive portrayals of the legend of Iztaciahuatl and Popotepetl (Iztaciahuatl is always seen in his paintings with a fawn on her lap), and the town of Mazatlan in Mexico literally means Land of the Deer in Nahuatl. For Napi and her brother to be transformed into deer brings a heavy and spiritual meaning to the story.
For me, Napi Goes to the Mountain is a very political and deeply spiritual book. It touches on indigenous rights and the fight for land that is going on every day in Mexico. It is told through a child’s eyes and how spiritual children are and how much they see. It also tells me that children are our future and that they bring color and hope to the world. Domi’s illustrations convey the deeper emotion running beneath the text as well as the beauty of the land the indigenous people are fighting for. Both the author and illustrator manage to beautifully mix the battle for tierra y libertad with the magical spirituality of the native people and the beauty of the land. Napi Goes to the Mountain is an incredible story and highly recommended. The Spanish version, Napi va a la montana is even more beautiful as for me the Spanish language seems to add to the magic of the story.
it wouldn't be a spoiler if you revealed the outcome of the kids' quest. i know, "you'll have to read the book to find out".
Sounds great! I'd love to add it to my son's library. The illustrator, Domi, is, I assume, Domitila Dominguez, who also illustrated "Questions & Swords" and "the Story of Colors", both works by Subcomandante Marcos.
Yes, Domi is Domitila Dominguez who illustrated both those books as well as the first Napi.
Sedano, buy the book and find out or come pick up the Spanish version. I have an extra...