KIKI KOKÍ

An insolent Taíno boy learns a valuable lesson in cooperative behavior when he is magically transformed into a tree frog in this Spanish-language retelling of a Puerto Rican folk tale.

The good children living on the island of Borikén help their mothers and fathers with the daily fishing and fruit gathering and then attend the full moon festival. Kiki Kokí is lazy and indifferent, declaring that the festival is stupid and that helping is no fun. Forbidden from attending, Kokí runs away and is turned into a golden tree frog by the angry moon goddess. Kokí must show, for 30 days, his willingness to help the other frogs, or he will remain a tree frog forever. The chastened Kokí works with his new amphibian friends to clean, gather food and cook, and even demonstrates a newfound selflessness when he helps them escape a group of rat pirates. Impressed, the moon goddess sends him back home as a boy, and he becomes the best helper while still having fun. Former Disney designer Rodríguez takes the coquí frog, the Puerto Rican national symbol, and uses bold, opaque colors to capture it in a caricature that will be familiar to cartoon-savvy youngsters. The dense tropical forests contain both breech-clout–clad Indians and fanciful amphibian villages with modern conveniences.

Previously self-published, this tale ably uses a modern artistic approach to tell an age-old tale of virtue and its rewards.