These are elaborated receptions, mostly at home, sometimes in cemeteries as well, but they involves the whole community.
Put in a simple way there seem to be two ways to celebrate day of the dead one in the indigenous and most traditional, ceremonial, very religious celebrations that is done among people in towns. It began as a monthly Aztec celebration that was forcibly transformed by the Spaniard conquistadores in order to subjugate the indigenous people of Mexico. One of the things that is very true about day of the dead is that it is a changing tradition. I am not an expert, even though I grew up surrounded by the tradition, but I am an enthusiast researcher of this tradition. To be knowledgable of this tradition you might not need to be Mexican, but certainly one might need to research a lot. I didn't expected the story to end up referring to the celebration because the day of the dead is not about ghosts. Telgemeier work is stunning, I love the emotional connections that she makes thought landscape, characters and story, I like the story from the beginning, but let me then speak about my reaction at finding out that he story was actually linked to the celebration of the Day of the Dead. Ghosts, that is one of my favorite themes too, I read it avidly. It was actually an advance copy that one of my Shendak fellows had picked up and brught to the Sendak farm where we were staying for a month. The book that came to my hands was Ghost. I love graphic novels, and for a long time I have been wanting to read some of the previous books by Telgemeier, but it wasn't until last July that I had an opportunity to do so. However, there is growing unease with the way Day of the Dead is becoming popularized: commercialized, and colonized, by White people. dynamics of Mexican-American family life.” But is that really the case? Okay, i f you go to a Day of the Dead celebration later this Fall, it is true that many will wear Day of the Dead makeup, and that there are face-painters who will do it for you. Recently Ghosts received a positive review from the New York Times, in which Dan Kois wrote that “Day of the Dead plays nicely into. (For more insider’s perspectives on Day of the Dead, read this and this.) “Borrowing from other cultures to tell your story may seem minor,” wrote Arredondo, “but it can be harmful to people of that culture.” Before you read any further here, take a look at what Jensen had to say, and read Arredondo's thoughtful post. In a post for the blog Teen Librarian Toolbox (hosted by School Library Journal), Karen Jensen wrestled with the culturally vague aspects of the book, especially concerning Telgemeier’s treatment of the Day of the Dead very soon thereafter, California-based public librarian Faythe Arredondo blogged about Ghosts at Teen Services Underground. But there was also a growing chorus of concerned voices, too. This all happens alongside the coming of Fall, Halloween, and the Day of the Dead.Īt BEA in Chicago in May and then again at ALA Annual in Orlando in June, many book lovers scored ARCs of the book and so the buzz increased. They meet neighbor Carlos, who is way into ghosts (he gives the sisters a ghost-themed tour) and sparks a renewed interest for the girls into their own Mexican heritage. In Ghosts, tween protagonist Catrina and her family have just moved to foggy northern California to make breathing easier for her little sister, Maya, who has cystic fibrosis. These are things we expect when a hugely popular author releases a new book. Rowling!) Of course publisher Scholastic/Graphix is doing a big marketing push, including the #GhostsTakeover hashtag on Twitter this past weekend, and of course the book is getting lots of love in review journals (four stars as of this writing). (In my relatively large public library system in Cincinnati, Ghosts has a waiting list of 55 people kids’ books don’t have waiting lists that lengthy unless they’re written by J.K. Raina Telgemeier has a new book coming out, so expect major excitement in your libraries and classrooms.