¡Ajua, ya llegó el chubasco!/Hip, Hip Hooray, It’s Monsoon Day!
Reviewed by Ann Welton, Grant Center for the Expressive Arts, Tacoma, WA -- Críticas, 6/15/2008
Rivera, Ashford and Roni Capin.
tr. by author. illus. by Richard Johnsen. U.S.: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press. 2007. unpaged. ISBN 978-1-886679-36-8. $15.95.
Gr 2-5–That monsoons are not just phenomena of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, but also hit the desert of the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico will come as news to most American children. This book does a workmanlike job of embedding information about the monsoon season in the Sonoran desert into a story about one family’s experience. Aaron, Sarah, and Justin listen as their grandfather explains the significance of the celebration of El Día de San Juan on June 24. San Juan’s Day honors John the Baptist and is closely associated with water. People of the Sonoran desert have combined this celebration with prayers for the water to stay through the rest of the dry year. And sure enough, on the afternoon of San Juan’s Day, the monsoon begins. Covering flora and fauna native to the region and their unique reactions to the short period of rain, the text also incorporates family traditions. A lengthy discussion gives detailed information on the weather conditions that create a monsoon, safety tips for dealing with flash floods and lightning, and the meaning of the Spanish words embedded in the text. The author’s Spanish translation is skillfully done, fluid, and precise. Johnsen’s watercolor illustrations, though well matched to the text, are uneven in execution. His strong suit is landscapes, which have a Hogarthian freshness and immediacy, but his human figures are less informed. This is, nonetheless, a lovely complement to Brenda Guiberson’s Cactus Hotel (Henry Holt, 1991)—unfortunately not available in translation. Of most interest regionally, ¡Ajua! certainly has classroom application for upper elementary geography units.
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