HOW THE GODS CREATED THE FINGER PEOPLE

Illustrated with a Honduran painter’s ornately detailed, Maya-inflected figures, this bilingual telling of a tale passed down by the illustrator’s grandmother also presents an authentically Central American blend of folk mythology and social commentary. When humans that have been created severally from fragile clay, combustible wood and cold, silent gold prove unsatisfactory to the gods, the Good-Hearted God "did what only gods can do": cuts off his fingers, which grow into such lively and elusive people that the gods can’t catch them to put them through various tests. (The text is careful to add that the fingers grow back, "like lizards' tails.") The weary gods take a siesta, and when they awake to discover that the warm-hearted humans have brought the golden model to life, they decree that the finger people will evermore be forced to work for the model’s rich descendants—but the rich will never enter heaven unless both come together. Not a traditional tale, but it's told in an animated way and is strongly evocative of its root culture. (Picture book. 7-9)