The Runaway Tortilla

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"'The Runaway Tortilla' is a classic takeoff on The Gingerbread Man traditional children's story, sort of the Southwestern equivalent featuring Hispanic, Native American influences, and desert animals, people, customs, and foods. The runaway tortilla begins as a perfect, fluffy, light tortilla made by Tio Jose and Tia Lupe at El Papagayo Feliz (the Happy Parrot) taqueria. When the adorable talking tortilla learns that she is destined to be eaten, she decides to escape her fate by running swiftly away, saying, "Run as fast as fast can be. You won't get a bite of me. Doesn't matter what you do, I'll be far ahead of you." A hilarious chase begins with Tio Jose and Tia Lupe chasing the runaway tortilla into the desert, soon followed by a cavalcade of animals, including seis vaqueros (six cowboys), cinco cascabeles (five rattlesnakes), cuartro conejos (four jackrabbits), tres burros (three burros), y dos sapos cornudos (and two horned toads). The runaway tortilla outruns them all and believes she is safe from being caught and eaten. Then she meets Senor Coyote, her nemesis. Coyote is very sly, using a devious trick to finally catch and eat the delicious, vain little runaway tortilla. All is illustrated in lovely soft desert hues, with comical expressive faces on all characters, animal, human and edible. The interweaving of Spanish terms is seamless in the narrative, inviting children ages 5 and up to enjoy this refreshing Southwestern American version of a beloved classic." -Children's Bookwatch Perfection can be dangerous, as restaurateurs Tia Lupe and Tio Jose discover when one of their delicious tortillas comes to life and runs away. The handmade tortillas, "light as a cloud and as soft as the fuzz on a baby's cheek," are so gravity-defying that one takes off, pursued at first by the couple, and then by a parade of conejos (rabbits), sapos cornudos (lizards), vaqueros (cowboys), and other locals. The story should sound familiar; it's a Spanish-sprinkled update of "The Gingerbread Man." This tortilla tale is a revamp of Kimmel's out-of-print 2000 book of the same name, illustrated by Randy Cecil, featuring winning new art and more Spanish but with that unsparing original ending. (Let's just say things do not end well when the troublemaking tortilla encounters a fox.) The text is energetic, and the baked-in Spanish avoids feeling dumbed down; it's placed so well in context that non-Spanish-speaking readers won't feel lost. The illustrations evocatively convey the cacti, sand-beached rubble, and reptilian fauna of the Southwest as well as the crispy-masa body of the tortilla herself. Her singsong-y taunt is catchy: "Run as fast as fast can be. / You won't get a bite of me. / Doesn't matter what you do. / I'll be far ahead of you!" Anyone who's ever driven across town for the perfect taco will understand the allure of the world's most entertaining tortilla. -Kirkus Reviews