The Festival of Bones / El Festival de Las Calaveras

Dance and rattle along with skeletons on their way to celebrate their day--the Day of the Dead!

Baila y meneate junto a las calaveras en camino a su día: el Día de Muertos!

If you think Day of the Dead is a time of celebration for the living, just think how much more exciting it is for the guests of honor! Renowned Mexican artist, Luis San Vicente, lets children join the fun with playful, rhythmic text in English and Spanish. His wild and whimsical artwork imagines how skeletons might revel as they're called back to Earth for this holiday of remembrance. You can also learn about how the living world celebrates Day of the Dead: A helpful afterword provides a brief history of the holiday in Mexico and some pointers on how to celebrate, including instructions for creating altars for dead loved ones and making traditional treats like sugar skulls.

Si crees que el Día de Muertos es un momento de celebración para los vivos, piensa cuánto más emocionante es para los invitados de honor! El reconocido artista mexicano, Luis San Vicente, permite que los niños se unan a la diversión con textos lúdicos y rítmicos en inglés y español. Su arte dinámico y extravagante imagina cómo las calaveras podrían deleitarse cuando son llamadas a regresar a la Tierra para esta festividad de recordar. También puedes aprender cómo se celebra el Día de Muertos en el mundo de los vivos: un epílogo útil detalla una breve historia del Día de Muertos en México y algunos consejos de cómo se puede celebrar, incluyendo cómo hacer un altar para seres queridos difuntos y recetas de delicias tradicionales como las calaveras de azúcar.

Luis San Vicente is an artist and author based in Mexico City. He has illustrated more than fifty children's books for publishers all around the world, including Mexico, the US, and Spain. His artwork has been exhibited in Cuba, Korea, Slovakia, and many more countries. He has also received numerous international accolades, including two first-place awards in the Catalog of Children's and Youth illustrations by Mexico's National Council for Culture and Arts, selection for the prestigious Ibero-American Illustration Catalog, and the Encouragement Prize from UNESCO's Noma Concours for Picture Books. You can learn more about him at luissanvicenteilustracion.com.

John Byrd, writer and editor, is the former president of Cinco Puntos Press. He co-edited Puro Border (Cinco Puntos/Lee & Low Books) and Lone Star Noir (Akashic Books). He also translated the children's book The Festival of Bones/El festival de las calaveras by Luis San Vicente and the novel Out of Their Minds by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite. He is now a Senior Editor at the Aerospace Center at the University of Texas in El Paso.