Juan the Bear and the Water of Life: La Acequia de Juan del Oso - Paperback

by Enrique R. Lamadrid (Author), Amy Córdova (Illustrator), Juan Estevan Arellano (Author)

La Acequia del Rito y la Sierra in the Mora Valley is the highest and most famous traditional irrigation system in New Mexico. It carries water up and over a mountain ridge and across a sub-continental divide, from the tributaries of the Río Grande to the immense watershed of the Mora, Canadian, Arkansas, and Mississippi Rivers. The names and stories of those who created this acequia to sustain their communities have mostly been lost and replaced by myths and legends. Now, when children ask, some parents attribute the task of moving mountains and changing the course of rivers to Juan del Oso, the stouthearted man whose father was a bear.

From the mountains of northern Spain to the Andes in South America, Spanish-speaking people have told ancient legends of Juan del Oso and his friends. In this children's tale, agriculturalist Juan Estevan Arellano and folklorist Enrique Lamadrid share a unique version of a celebrated story that has been told in northern New Mexico for centuries.

Front Jacket

The legend of the stouthearted man who moved mountains and rivers to create the most famous acequia in northern New Mexico is retold in both English and Spanish for a new generation of young readers.

Author Biography

Enrique R. Lamadrid is a distinguished professor emeritus of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of the Querencias Series at the University of New Mexico Press.

Amy Córdova is an artist, author, educator, and two-time ALA Pura Belpré Honors Award winner for children's book illustration. She lives in La Cíenega, New Mexico.

Juan Estevan Arellano, a native of Embudo, New Mexico, is a poet, artist, writer, and agronomist. He is an expert in traditional Spanish/Moorish agriculture and the sustaining of traditional crops originally brought to New Mexico from Europe and Central Mexico.