![]() ![]() One of the ways in which the carob tree manifests its magic is by dropping magic beans, which provide sustenance for the llamas, flour for human use, and seeds to cover the rest of the land in carob trees. Will his plan succeed? This story highlights Topec's individual bravery, yet it places value on cooperation with others as well as he puts his plan into action. Helped by sage advice from the lone carob tree standing in the pampas, the only tree alive in the world, Topec hatches a plan to rid his people of the evil bird and unleash the rain. In this retelling of a legend from Argentina, young Topec goes in search of life-giving rain during a terrible drought and discovers that the rain has ceased because of the Great Bird of the Underworld, a powerful being that cannot be killed. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts - particularly those who enjoy arboreal tales - and to fans of the artist! I enjoyed the artwork (as always) and appreciated the fact that author Nancy van Laan included a list of sources (none of them an anthology of tales, alas). It's really a shame that so little seems to be available in English! In any case, this engaging story is most welcome, and is greatly enhanced by the artwork of Beatriz Vidal, whose illustrations have also graced such titles as Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain: A Nandi Tale and A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia. This fascinating story offers an all-too brief glimpse into a folk tradition that I would like to explore more fully! I keep hoping I will happen on more Latin American folklore in general, and Argentine folklore (whether from the indigenous peoples, or the European settlers) in particular. Aided by his people, and by the animals, Topec succeeds in driving away the Great Bird, when he alights on the magical Carob Tree to sleep. Questioning the river, the North Wind, and the Carob Tree, Topec eventually learns the truth: the gods and goddesses have been prevented from seeing that the pampas need rain by the outspread wings of the Great Bird of the Underworld. It fell to a young boy named Topec - who, alone amongst his people, still had faith in Pachamama, and in Pampero (the South Wind), the Mother of Storms (the rain-bringer), and the Life Giver (the Sun) - to find the rain and bring it back. This folktale from the Quechua people of Argentina tells of a time "long ago," when a summer with no rain threatened the very survival of life on the pampas, and Pachamama (Mother Earth) seemed deaf to the people's cries. Van Laan lives and writes in Doylestown, Pa. One of these, Rainbow Crow, was featured on the PBS television series Reading Rainbow. Since then, Van Laan has published over two dozen books. Two years later, she left teaching to write full time. Van Laan published her first book, The Big Fat Worm, in 1987. She also taught creative writing at Rutgers from 1986 to 1989. Van Laan moved to eastern Pennsylvania where she taught English at a private boarding school from 1984 to 1989. ![]() She earned an MFA in theater from Rutgers University in 1979 and wrote two plays which were performed regionally. ![]() After her first two children were born, she resigned from ABC and began painting professionally, creating murals for schools and private clients. Van Laan began writing at this time and also studied art. She worked briefly at an advertising company and then joined ABC-TV where she worked as a network censor from 1962 to 1966. Van Laan moved to New York after college. After completing her AA degree at Sullins, she enrolled at the University of Alabama, earning her BA in radio and television in 1961. Van Laan’s dancing career ended after an injury she sustained as a student at Sullins College in Bristol, Va. By age seventeen, she had her own ballet company in Birmingham that performed on a weekly program broadcast on Alabama Educational TV (now Alabama Public Television). Van Laan also loved ballet and began taking lessons at the age of nine. She began drawing and writing poetry as a child and enjoyed illustrating her own stories. ![]() Although Van Laan had a learning disability, she loved to read. She began making up stories to pass the time on long car trips. Her father was a colonel in the US Air Force, and the family moved frequently as Van Laan was growing up. Nancy Van Laan was born in Baton Rouge, La. ![]()
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