Grandpa's Magic Tortilla

Grandpa Luis loves to have his grandchildren, Alejandra, Daniel, and Benjamín, visit him in his hometown of Chimayo, New Mexico, and is happy to make a fresh batch of homemade tortillas whenever the children want them. One morning, Grandpa Luis leaves a tortilla on the griddle too long, almost burning it. Grandma puts the crunchy tortilla aside for Grandpa's lunch quesadilla, but not before the children discover something very unusual about the tortilla. Benjamín has seen the perfect shape of a bear, but Daniel swears he saw a dolphin. When Alejandra goes for a second look, all three of them watch as the body of the bear changes into a dolphin and then into a coyote right before their eyes. Word spreads quickly and soon the neighborhood children are clamoring to see animals appear in the magic tortilla.

Through a child's lens, this lighthearted bilingual tale presents the contemporary phenomenon of sacred and mundane objects appearing on everyday items like doors, walls, toast or, in this case, a tortilla.