The Piñata That the Farm Maiden Hung

Summary of Book

This is the bilingual story of the farm maiden and her cadre of animals, who crafted a festive piñata for a surprise birthday party. A beautiful and lively companion to the award-winning The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred.

A young girl sets out on errands for the day, and while she's gone, the farm maiden prepares a piñata from scratch with help from a boy, horse, goose, cat, sheep, and farmer. After they all fall asleep in the afternoon sun, they must scramble to finish preparations in time--just as the girl arrives back at her surprise party. Key English words change to Spanish as the cumulative verse builds to the celebratory ending. With the familiarity of "The House That Jack Built," the tale cleverly incorporates Spanish words, adding a new one in place of the English word from the previous page. This book makes learning the language easy and fun. Back matter includes a glossary, definitions, and directions for making a piñata at home.

Author Biography

Samantha is the author of six children's picture books: ""THE PIÑATA THAT THE FARM MAIDEN HUNG"" (Charlesbridge, 2019, Sebastià Serra), ""ALPHABET BOATS"" (2018), ""ALPHABET TRAINS"" (2015), ""ALPHABET TRUCKS"" (2013, Ryan O'Rourke), ""THE CAZUELA THAT THE FARM MAIDEN STIRRED"" (2011, Rafael López), and ""BEFORE YOU WERE HERE, MI AMOR"" (Viking, 2009, Santiago Cohen). Samantha lives and writes in the Bay Area. Visit http://www.samanthavamos.com to learn more.

Illustrator Biography

Sebastian Serra has illustrated more than seventy children's books in Spain, Italy, France, UK, Portugal, Taiwan, Brazil and the United States.

Also, he has worked as graphic designer for several television shows, family theatre and many museums and cultural institutions.

He was selected three times for the Mostra degli illustratori di libri per ragazzi at Bologna Children’s Book Fair and also for the Society of Illustrators of New York, in the Original Art exhibition: The Fine Art of Children's Books Illustration.

He took part in illustration exhibitions at The Museum of American Illustration of New York, Chicago Art Institute, Northwestern University of Illinois, Itabashi Art Museum of Tokyo, Korea Society of Illustrators, International Illustrators Exchange of Prague and Frankfurt Book Fair.

He won the Mercè Llimona Prize, the Lola Anglada prize, the Serra d'Or Critics Prize, and twice Junceda Prizes by the Professional Association of Illustrators of Catalonia.