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Critical Praise for Baby Coyote and the Old Woman / El Coyotito y la viejita

• Baby Coyote loves many things about his desert home, including the clear air, the multicolored sky, and the chasing tumbleweeds in the wind. He particularly loves watching the old woman who lives nearby as she waters her plants and thoughtfully leaves tidbits out for her furry friend. What he definitely does not like is the trash heap outside her door, where paper, tin cans, and toxic cleaning products are unceremoniously dumped. Baby Coyote discovers an effective way of communicating his displeasure, which leads to a gentle ecology lesson and a mending of thoughtless habits. This bilingual story has much to recommend it. the illustrations, in a soft southwestern palette, are charming if somewhat stiff, and the text flows smoothly in both English and Spanish. Young children will be intrigued by the relationship between the coyote and the woman. Moreover, due to its didactic handling of the ecological message, elementary teachers will find this an effective read-aloud as part of an Earth Day activity. Recommended for purchase by both school and public libraries

  — Cheryl Scheer, Denver Public Library

• Baby Coyote is a wonderful, gentle, and very compassionate book about the most important struggle on earth today. Carmen Tafolla and Matt Novak have created a wise little coyote indeed. This bilingual edition is charming, humorous, and directly to the point. I wish it could be published in hundreds of bilingual versions everywhere. We need simple and loving books like this to help us create a positive future.

  — John Nichols

Reviews

• Dallas Morning NewsMay 5, 2000

  This book . . . is about a cute coyotito (baby coyote) who is enthralled with the beauty of the desert landscape that is his home. So imagine his distress when he meets an old woman who litters freely. Her garbage even covers up cactus flowers and affects the little coyote's ability to enjoy the land. The coyotito takes simple steps, literally, to teach the old woman the beauty of recycling in a simple story that imparts a powerful message.

• San Antonio Express-NewsJune 9, 2000

  San Antonio poet and fiction writer Carmen Tafolla has written widely for textbook publishers, making information accessible to younger readers. She once again shows her skills in this area with a charming tale of ecological responsibility. When Baby Coyote sees the Old Woman taking care of her garden and leaving him treats, he's pleased to have found a new friend. But the Old Woman's trash pile doesn't please him at all, and he comes up with a clever plan to show her a better way. San Antonio-based publisher Wings Press has blended Tafolla's text with clever illustrations by Matt Novak.