When Rosita, the loveliest gal in the Pecos River Valley, offers her delicious rhubarb pie as first prize for the Great Grasshopper Race, a thousand love-struck vaqueros line up for the competition. Of course everyone believes that the legendary cowboy Pecos Bill, riding his giant grasshopper, Hoppy, is a shoo-in for the grand prize. Sure enough, Bill and Hoppy give an impressive performance, crisscrossing the Southwest in a raucous ride. But young Juan, who is hopelessly in love with Rosita, astonishes them all when he and Jack the Jackalope take a miraculous ride around the world and across the Milky Way. The daring pair return, covered in stardust, to claim the beautiful Rosita and her delicious pie. Set in New Mexico, Anaya's fanciful story, coupled with Amy Cordova's vivid illustrations, brings the tradition of Southwestern tall tales to a new generation of young readers.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 2009 by University of New Mexico Press .

Amy Cordova is an artist, author, educator, and two-time ALA Pura Belpre Honors Award winner for children's book illustration. She lives in La Cienega, New Mexico. Rudolfo Anaya, professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico, received the National Medal of Arts for literature in 2001. His novel Alburquerque (UNM Press) won the PEN Center West Award for Fiction. Other Rudolfo Anaya titles available from UNM Press include Jemez Spring, Cuentos Chicanos, The Santero's Miracle, a children's picture book, Heart of Aztlan, and Serafina's Stories.