Nacho is a pitacoche bird, the only one around. Nacho knows he is different, but he falls in love with a swallow who has made her nest by the church's bells. He grows to love Lolita's chicks too, and when the cold comes she begins to talk about leaving for the season. Nacho begs Lolita to stay, but she insists that is too cold and she must migrate with the other swallows. Lolita devises a plan to help him come with the swallows. When the plan falls through, he has to say goodbye, singing sad songs sending his love for Lolita out with his songs. Nacho uses his feathers to bring plants and flowers to attract the swallows back to his home. Although he has lost his colors, Lolita finds them and they live happily together.

I liked this book very much. It was a definite 10 out of 10. The point of view that this book presented was from Nachos perspective. He is a beautiful bird who is saddened by being the only one of his kind. However, through mingling and meeting a group of swallows he decides to shed his beautiful feathers so they can find his village again. The way he narrates the book and describes his actions and feelings is lovely and shows his love for his new-found family. The illustrations are also a way for the author to enhance the story. It began as a black and white background with just Nacho as the beautiful colorful object. However, as he sheds his feathers and beautifies the barren land the land is now colorful and he is grey. This shows true representation of shedding one selves beauty and finding the beauty in others which I feel is that main message that the author was trying to convey. ( )

Summary

The beautiful bird Nacho was the only pitacoche around. He was colorful and admired by all and they equally enjoyed his singing. But Nacho was lonely. He longed to have a family with which to share his life. With the change of the seasons came the swallows and Nacho met and fell in love with Lolita and soon formed a family with her and her chicks. Sadly when the summer ended the swallows had to fly away to warmer weather. Lolita feared they may never come back to that area because the river was drying up. They tried to take Nacho with them but he was too heavy and he could not fly that far on his own. They had to leave him behind. In the midst of his sadness Nacho remembered that when he plucked his feathers they became flowers and a grey feather grew in tis place. Nacho began to pluck his feathers one by one and plant them. Flowers and trees began to bloom everywhere as Nacho turned grey. He only left one feather unplucked hoping that the swallow would return to a now beatuiful place and that he would see his Lolita again. Of course the swallow returned and Lolita did not care that Nacho was now gray. In her eyes he would always be beautiful.

Critique

This is a beautiful story of love and sacrifice. Nacho was beautiful to the eyes and his singing was pleasing to the ears. Nacho enjoyed being admired. The book emphasized that there was one thing to Nacho that was more important than his beauty and he was willing to sacrifice for love. The story was well written and engaging and ended with the thought that sacrifice pays off in the end. It is a great book to teach children how to focus on the things that are priority and to work toward accomplishing those things.

Prompts

p4. Nacho was the only one of his kind. Discuss some of the things that made Nacho unique. Why did that not make him happy?
p.5 Nacho thought the swallows were everything he was not. Why did he feel that way?
p17. Predict whether Nacho would be able to fly away with the swallows. Why or why not?
p.24 "Nacho knew what he must do." What do you think Nacho is planning to do?

Craft element for mini-lesson

After the swallow left Nacho made a great sacrifice. What was the sacrifice he made, why did he do it and was Nacho's sacrifice worth it?

This is a story about 2 birds named Nacho and Lolita. Nacho was sad because he was the only pitacoche for thousands of miles and hundreds of years and he had no other bird to share his joy. He met a swallow named Lolita and fell in love. Unfortunately, Lolita had to fly to south America where there was plenty of food and water. Nacho couldn't go because he was too big to fly the distance. Lolita had no choice, she had to go to survive. Nacho had colorful feathers that turned other things colors when when they touched the feathers. Nacho turned the fields near him all different colors in hopes that when Lolita flew by in the spring, she would notice the colorful fields and fly back. Lolita came back and it was as if they'd been together for thousands of miles and hundreds of years.

I loved this book because every time Nacho plucked a colorful feather, a gray one came back. He sacrificed his beautiful feathers to get Lolita back.

I would teach my class vocabulary words in the book such as dismal, preening, trill, and intrigued. There are also Spanish phrases that I would translate into English for students such as "Una familia fantastica!" I would ask students why Nacho would lose all of his colorful feathers in hopes of seeing Lolita again.

I would have students determine the theme of the story, including how Nacho responds to Lolita leaving. Next, I would have students use description to write a narrative about how Nacho responded to Lolita leaving. Students would need to provide a conclusion to that follows the narrative experiences. ( )

Summary: Nacho is rare and majestic bird. He is the only pitacoche for thousands of miles. He so proud of beautiful feathers, and of his amazing songs. However even with all that he still wishes he had someone to share it with. Soon the people in the valley of San Juan began to prepare for the feast of St. Joseph. During this time period, swallows come to nest. This is where Nacho meets a swallow named Lolita. After that his life changes. He begins helping the shallows birds. He even gives Lolita one of his feathers that turns into a blue hibiscus. The spot where he pulled his feather came from another one grew back but not in color. It grew back grey. Nacho begin to spend a lot of time with Lolita and her chicks when they had hatched. He was filled with affection, and purpose. He couldn't remember a time before meeting Lolita. One day the shallows were reminded by the wind that their time was almost up in San Juan. Nacho was upset that Loltia would have to leave. He was even more upset that she might never come back because the water was drying out. He pleaded for Lolita to stay, but she couldn't because she couldn't survive the winter. Nacho couldn't go with Lolita either because he can't fly very far without getting tired. But Lolita comes up with a plan. So they try it, but it doesn't work. Nacho comes the realization that him and Lolita are not meant to be together. Nacho's heart was filled with sadness. One-day Nacho came up with an idea to help the shallows find their way back. He picked all his feathers, but one. With his feathers he was able to make water, mustard, papees, orange trees. He sacrificed his pretty feathers in hopes to see Lolita again. He's sacrifices was worked. Lolita and Nacho were reunited.

Critique: This book is a folktale about Hispanic culture. I would so recommend this book to anyone. I loved how it was filled with lots of Spanish words, and colorful pictures. The pictures really capture the story. It's a love story, and who doesn't love a good love story. I know I do. This book will keep readers interested in it because is so suspenseful. Nacho finds love but then loses it. The readers will keep reading to find out how the story ends and if Nacho gets that love back.

Prompt: Do a picture walk before reading this to your students. Find out what they think this book is going to be about.
Have a white piece of paper on the board with some of the Spanish words already written on it. Before reading have the students see if they can tell you what those words are in English. (This is for those duel enrollment classes).

Craft Element:
Reading- Teach students about Mexican and Mexican American cultures while teaching students the different cultures around the world.
Writing- Have the students write a different outcome for the end of the book. For example- the shallow birds don't come back and Nacho is left alone with only one colorful feather. She how creative your students can be.