Overview
When a group of hungry soldiers ride into San Miguel, the townspeople don’t want to share their food. They hide their tortillas, tamales, beans, and flour and put on torn clothes to look poor. But the Capitán is not fooled. He asks for a cactus thorn to make some cactus soup, and before long he has tricked the townspeople into giving him salt and chilies, vegetables, and a chicken as well! Whimsical watercolors by Phil Huling add to the humor in this southwestern twist on the classic Stone Soup tale.
Synopsis
New Spanish edition of Cactus Soup with whimsical watercolors adding to the humor when El Capitan tries to get help feeding his hungry soldiers.
Children's Literature
This wonderful Spanish language version of Eric Kimmel's 2004 Cactus Soup will make you chuckle again. As a regiment of revolutionaries comes through San Miguel, a small town in Mexico, the town's officials know that before the revolutionaries leave, the town's people will be left with nothing to eat. Therefore, the mayor advises them to hide their foodstuffs. When the soldiers arrive and ask for something to eat, they are told that the town is very poor and have no food to offer them. That is fine the captain says, the soldiers will make cactus soup. All they will need is a large cactus thorn. Of course, they will need to boil some water and would not the soup taste better with salt, pepper, chilies, beans, etc.? All this and more materialize as the town "helps" to make the cactus soup. The end results in a great feast for the soldiers and townspeople alike. Huling's wonderful watercolor illustrations make the setting of the story come to life. The warm browns and golds are reminiscent of a Mexican locale. The languid elongated soldiers and the townspeople are richly drawn; most are rather thin, except for a smattering of rotund characters notably the mayor and the priest. The author's note on the last page puts the story in a historical context. Here is a book that will be loved by all, not once but again and again.