The Lady of Guadalupe

I've read this story aloud to children in our family and to religious education classes a hundred times and the experience lingers. It is written for reading aloud. Perfect.

Wonderful book...inspiring telling of the story of Our Lady for all ages! I shared it with my Faith Formation class and parents and children alike were spellbound.

Ever seen the sun-shine-y Virgin on the back window of a pickup truck? Now you'll understand. The first time I read this book to my daughter, I had to stop when I got to the page of Juan Diego kneeling with his tilma, as I swallowed back tears. It is a beautiful rendering of a beautiful story, that of the Mother of God appearing to an indigenous man to teach true peace. The Spaniards argued that the human sacrificing Aztecs and other Mexican religions must be destroyed, along with their culture, while the Franciscans who accompanied their journeys argued that the people need not change their language, traditions, etc. Our Lady of Guadalupe showed that culture need not be obliterated to bring the Christian faith to others. She showed her great love for the Mexican people, and the beauty of this love pierces DePaola's work. I love his iconic style of illustration and his children's books, but this is by far my favorite. The children love it.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the apparition of Mary appearing to a Native American in Mexico dressed in the simple clothes of a pregnant Indian maiden. Other miracles accompany these visitations, the end result of which is that millions of people who were unable to accept the religion of their ruthless Spanish conquerors were able to embrace the religion of this maiden and became Christians. Tomie De Paola is well known among elementary school and children's librarians as a great author and illustrator and this book is just another reason that she has this reputation. Of course, the events involved in how the Mexicans were able to accept the religion of their conquerors were great! And when you combine a great author and illustrator together with great events you have a great story! This book is wonderfully illustrated on every page with an average of 6 lines of the story per page. This book is billed as "reading level" ages 4-8. I would say that a four year old would enjoy having it read to them, but the reading level is that of the 3rd grade.

I like this story of Jaun Diego's vision. I read it over and over again. In choir, I learned the song Saddened Eyes. It's about Guadalope`, and one of my mom's favorite songs. I like the the picture of Guadalupe` on Juan Diego's touma. I love this book ever so much!