Alma Flor Ada

Merry Navidad. Christmas Carols in Spanish and English

Come share the joy of a His­panic Christmas!

In this warm and vibrant col­lec­tion of tra­di­tional Span­ish Christ­mas car­ols, or vil­lan­ci­cos, noted authors Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Cam­poy bring to life the hol­i­day tra­di­tions of Latin Amer­ica and Spain. The cre­ative Eng­lish adap­ta­tions by Rosalma Zubizarreta both cap­ture the spirit of the orig­i­nals and add a new dimen­sion to the songs. And Span­ish illus­tra­tor Viví Escrivá‘s spir­ited illus­tra­tions are per­fect back­drops for the lyrics, adding rich hol­i­day flavor.

Come sing along! ¡Feliz Navi­dad! and Merry Christmas!

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The cel­e­bra­tion of Christ­mas was very impor­tant dur­ing my child­hood and later dur­ing my children’s child­hood. Although my fam­ily was not Catholic my par­ents con­sid­ered cel­e­brat­ing Christ­mas an impor­tant aspect of our Cuban cul­ture. Rel­a­tives came from other cities and every year we cre­ated a large and elab­o­rate nacimiento or Nativ­ity scene and dur­ing the many days we waited first for Decemn­ber 25 and later for Jan­u­ary 6, or Día de los Reyes Magos, Christ­mas car­ols con­tributed to cre­ate a joy­ful atmosphere.

My child­hood mem­o­ries of Christ­mas are described in the vignette “Christ­mas for All” in Under the Royal Palms. In the Span­ish ver­sion “Navi­dades para todos” en Bajo las pal­mas reales.

Christ­mas has also inspired many of my books: I Don’t Want to Melt or No quiero der­re­tirme and The Golden Cage, or La jaula dorada both in the col­lec­tion Sto­ries the Year ’round, or Cuen­tos para todo el año. As it hap­pens with many other sto­ries in this twelve book col­lec­tion these two books were inspired by my own chil­dren. One of the vol­umes of the series Sto­ries to Cel­e­brate or Cuen­tos para cel­e­brar, co-authored with F. Isabel Cam­poy also cen­ters on the dates of Dceem­ber 25 and Jan­u­ary 6: Cel­e­brate Christ­mas and Three Kings Days with Pablo and Car­l­i­tos, or Cel­e­bra Navi­dad y el Día de Reyes con Pablo y Car­l­i­tos. Of course, on that series of mul­ti­cul­tural cel­e­bra­tions there are also books ded­i­cated to cel­e­brate Hanukkah and Kawanzaa.