Critique de School Library Journal
Gr 4-6-Rosalba is living an ordinary life for a nine-year-old Mayan girl in rural Mexico until she makes a new friend who dramatically changes her life in Carolyn Marsden's novel (Candlewick, 2011). She starts to think beyond her traditional Mayan life of weaving stories onto blouses and taking care of her home and begins to ponder changes to her environment and, possibly, the world. Rosalba's friend tells her that the Mayan calendar indicates that the world will end in 2012. Also, there's a new road through the forest to her village that will endanger the environment and cause pollution. In addition to the main story, there is a dream sequence concerning an ancient Mayan boy who tells Rosalba how she can help stop the destruction. As a result of the two stories, the novel moves along very slowly and there is little character development. Adriana Sananes voices Rosalaba in a sweet, naive voice, while Janjiy Jhaven presents the boy's participation in ancient Mayan shamanistic rituals using a deep, serious tone. The two perspectives create an unusual flow that makes it seem like there are two separate stories. Listeners will have a hard time staying with this tale of a traditional way of life faced with modern development.-Katie Llera, Milltown Public Library, Milltown, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Critique de Horn Book
Rosalba, nine, lives in a Mayan community in rural Mexico. She worries about her group's way of life when bulldozers invade the forest and its wildlife--not to mention when she finds out that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. Rosalba draws her strength from traditional culture in an uncertain new world throughout this thoughtful book. An author's note is appended. Glos. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Critique de Kirkus
In Marsden's latest tale of cross-cultural friendship, a modern Mayan girl fights to protect her rural Mexican village from encroaching development.Nine-year-old Rosalba Nicho lives a peaceful life with her parents and siblings in San Martn. Everything changes when she becomes friends with 8-year-old Alicia, a light-haired, green-eyed ladina from Mexico City. Camping nearby while her father works to preserve the local frog population, Alicia dominates most conversations and the friendship in general, establishing a problematic colonizer motif that runs throughout the novel. Soon, government workers inexplicability start bulldozing a road to San Martn, and more frogs begin to die. The author intersperses these third-person chapters with a mystical first-person narrative, following the life of a young male seer named Xunko in 600 C.E. The two narratives finally connect when Xunko begins visiting Rosalba's dreams, showing her ways to save her village. Unfortunately, with the exception of Rosalba and Xunko, most of the Mayan characters appear petty, ignorant and/or violent. The importance of Mayan weaving and the use of the Popol Vuh add authenticity, yet the intended audience may be overwhelmed by the dual narratives, the environmental aspects, brief references to the Zapatistas and the (unfortunate) inclusion of the Mayan 2012 "apocalypse" prophecy.While the concluding author's note provides explication of some of these elements, some readers may not stick it out. (Spanish/Mayan glossary) (Fiction. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Critique de Booklist
Nine-year-old Rosalba lives in rural Mexico, where her community clings to the remnants of their Mayan heritage. After befriending an Anglo girl whose scientist father studies the local frogs, Rosalba is introduced to a world of information: the frogs are dying off from a fungus; the world is getting warmer; and a Mayan prophecy states that the world will end in 2012. Meanwhile, in an earlier era (and in alternating chapters), a young Mayan shaman sees the potential destruction to the earth and tries to reach Rosalba to tell her how she can help change a devastating outcome. Marsden, who often writes across time and place, goes further in this book. Especially in the shaman's chapters, a level of knowledge is assumed that might not be there for middle-grade readers, and Rosalba's story also demands some suspension of disbelief about what a child can accomplish. On the other hand, the story is so dripping with myth and mystery that kids will be intrigued, and as always, Marsden's writing is beautiful and her knowledge about children's hearts is immense.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
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