A New Job for Pérez, the Mouse
Ratoncito Pérez, Cartero
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The protagonist of A New Job for Pérez, the Mouse or Ratoncito Pérez, cartero is a beloved character in the folklore of many Spanish-speaking countries. He is both known as Cucarachita Martina’s husband and as the equivalent of the tooth fairy.
In this story he is suffering because most children in the neighborhood have already lost their baby teeth. He is happy to find a new job, as a mailman, until his good friend Pig Three declares that mailmen are useless now that all correspondence happens through email.
But there is a surprise waiting for Pig Three that will vindicate Pérez’s job. And throughout the story readers get to see some of the diverse and fantastic mail that Pérez has delivered.
ON THE LANGUAGE BOOKS OF GATEWAYS TO THE SUN SERIES
The four books in the Language series of Gateways to the Sun or Puertas al Sol are fractured fairy-tales which will help to develop children’s language in very specific areas:
By predicting who are the characters, and then reading their first person descriptions in: One, Two, Three. Who Can It Be? or Uno, dos, tres. ¡Dime, quién es children will become acquainted with personal descriptions and familiarize with language that will help them talk about themselves.
A New Home for the Seven Little Kids or El nuevo hogar de los siete cabritos shows all the elements of a house. Children will be able to understand a plan for the rooms of a house and will find the vocabulary related to furniture and appliances.
In Happy Birthday, Little Red Riding Hood or ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Caperucita Roja! children will follow Little Red Riding Hood and her mother as they plan a birthday party. Creating the list of guests, writing the invitations, looking for addresses in an address book, writing the envelopes, making a shopping list, and following some simple recipes all will contribute to see the many ways in which language is present in daily life.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Reintroducing well loved characters from fairy tales has always been an enjoyable form to create a book. After the success of the Hidden Forest series, Dear Peter Rabbit or Querido Pedrín, Yours truly, Goldilocks or Atentamente, Ricitos de Oro, With Love, Little Red Hen and the recent Extra! Extra! Fairy Tales News from Hidden Forest or ¡Extra! ¡Extra! Noticias del Bosque Escondido to continue to play with fairy tales characters seemed just a natural thing to do.
CONNECTIONS
Besides the connections between the four books of this series of Gateways to the Sun, there are multiple connections to these characters in other titles.
The complete traditional tale of Ratoncito Pérez or Pérez the Mouse can be found as “Martina Martínez and Pérez, the Mouse” or “Martina Martínez y el ratoncito Pérez” in Tales Our Abuelitas Told or Cuentos que contaban nuestras abuelas.
A delightful song La Cucarachita Martina offers a brief version of the encounter between Martina and Pérez. It can be found in “Sigue la música,” number 7 of the collection Música amiga.
A different take on the story is presented in the great-granddaughter of Cucarachita Martina o La tataranieta de Cucarachita Martina which brings the story to present times.
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