Summary
The First Tortilla is a moving, bilingual story of courage and discovery. A small Mexican village is near starvation. There is no rain, and the bean and squash plants are dying.
Jade, a young village girl, is told by a blue hummingbird to take a gift to the Mountain Spirit. Then it will send the needed rain.
Burning lava threatens her, but Jade reaches the top of the volcano. The Mountain Spirit is pleased. It allows the ants in a nearby cave to share their corn with Jade. The corn was sweet and delicious and Jade took some back to save the village.
Jade grinds the dry corn, adds water, and makes dough. She pats the masa and places it on hot stones near the fire. She has made the first tortilla. Soon the making of corn tortillas spreads throughout Mexico and beyond.
Reading level: grade 3 and up
Rudolfo Anaya, an educator and author, was born on October 30, 1937, in Pastura, New Mexico. He earned a B.A. in English in 1963, an M.A. in 1968 and a second M.A. in Guidance Counseling in 1972 from the University of New Mexico.
During the 1960s, Anaya taught in the Albuquerque public schools. In 1974 he began to teach at the University of New Mexico and earned the title of professor emeritus in 1993.
Anaya's first novel, Bless Me, Ultima began as a trilogy including Heart of Aztlan (1976), and Tortuga (1979). This loose trilogy based on his life experience as a Chicano child, formed Anaya's reputation. Anaya mixed old Spanish folk tales based on the oral tradition with a theme of loss, specifically the loss of religious belief.
In 1993, he won the PEN West Center Fiction Award for his novel Albuquerque. 1995 Anaya received both the El Fuego Nuevo Award from the Mexican American Educators and the Excellence in Humanities Award from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities.
Anaya has lectured extensively around the world. His works have been translated into many languages such as Italian, Russian and Japanese. With his wife Patricia, he founded the Aztlan Premio, a prize encouraging Chicano writers. Anaya resides in Albuquerque.
In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal.
He died at the age of 82 on June 28, 2020.
(Bowker Author Biography)