Elena's Serenade

Who ever heard of a girl glassblower?

In Mexico, where the sun is called el sol and the moon is called la luna, a little girl called Elena wants to blow into a long pipe...and make bottles appear, like magic.

But girls can't be glassblowers. Or can they?

Join Elena on her fantastic journey to Monterrey — home of the great glassblowers! — in an enchanting story filled with magic realism.

In Mexico, a little girl disguised as a boy, sets out for Monterrey determined to master the art of glassblowing, and in the process, experiences self-discovery along the way.

Who ever heard of a girl glassblower?

In Mexico, where the sun is called el sol and the moon is called la luna, a little girl called Elena wants to blow into a long pipe...and make bottles appear, like magic.

But girls can't be glassblowers. Or can they?

Join Elena on her fantastic journey to Monterrey — home of the great glassblowers! — in an enchanting story filled with magic realism.

Publishers Weekly

In Geeslin's (On Ram n's Farm) enchanting story set in Mexico, Elena-whom Juan (Frida) depicts as a wide-eyed, Botero-like pumpkin of a girl-dreams of being a glassblower like her father. Author and artist set the stage with the first spread: "In Mexico the sun is called el sol,/ and the moon is called la luna./ I am called Elena." The opening line suggests that Elena could be a child of the sun and the moon, while opposite, a full-page portrait (which doubles as the cover image) depicts her swinging from the stars. When her father tells her, "Who ever heard of a girl glassblower?" Elena takes one of her father's old glassblowing pipes and runs away to Monterrey, home of Mexico's "great glassblowers." On the way she discovers a special gift: when she blows into the pipe, out waft sweet songs that help a limping roadrunner find its stride and transform a coyote's cacophonous song into a sweet serenade. When Elena finally reaches her destination and twirls the pipe into hot glass, sparkling stars, birds and butterflies burst out. Spunky Elena will inspire young readers as she sets out to follow her passion; her homesickness at journey's end ("Oh, I wish Papa could see what I can do!") keeps the perspective childlike. Juan's lush illustrations in desert tones, textured with scratches and splatters of ink, make the story's fantastical elements soar, especially when Elena flies home on a glass swallow she has made. Sprinkling Spanish words and cadences throughout the text, Geesin fashions a magical-realist fable with a girl-power message. Ages 3-7. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Campbell Geeslin lives in White Plains, New York, but when he was a small boy, his family visited Mexico many times. It became a land of remembered marvels. This story is the result of watching Monterrey glassblowers turn broken Coca-Cola bottles into vases for flowers. If that isn't magic, what is?

Ana Juan is the illustrator of Elena's Serenade, which School Library Journal, in a starred review, called "a fascinating adventure that explores issues of gender roles, self-confidence, and the workings of an artist's heart." Her paintings have appeared on the cover of the New Yorker, on book and album jackets, on film festival posters, and in several European magazines. She is also the illustrator of Frida by Jonah Winter and the author and illustrator of The Night Eater. She lives in Madrid, Spain.