Merry Navidad!: Christmas Carols in Spanish and English/Villancicos en espanol e ingles

I gave this book four stars because the title and description may lead people to expect a collection of carol words with music. Otherwise, I feel that it is a perfect introduction to Christmas as it is celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries (Spain and Latin America). Unlike other books on the subject which restrict their coverage to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean, Merry Navidad has villancicos from Peru, Chile and Argentina, as well as countries to the north. The illustrations are adorable. I specially like the drawings in the margins, which really add to the content. For people who expect a carol collection like the American carol books they are used to, a collection of villancicos can be a problem. I grew up in Chile myself, and villancicos were a major part of my family's Christmas celebration. They were sung by three generations of my family on Christmas Eve, accompanied by guitar, drums, and other musical instruments. Even though we knew dozens of villancicos, we didn't learn a single one from a musical score. They were either learned directly from someone else or from a recording. I believe this is normal throughout Latin America and the result is that, unlike American carols, villancicos have not yet become standardized. Even when the same words are used, they will sound quite different from one part of the hispanic world to another, because they are sung to different tunes and have different refrains. May be this is why the authors decided not to restrict themselves to one tune per song, and left it up to the readers to supply the music. I am sure there is a need for a book of villancicos with piano accompaniment and maybe choral settings. I just hope it won't mark the end of the villancico as an oral tradition, in all its variety.