Jade is a young girl who lives in a village next to a towering volcano. On its peak lives a Mountain Spirit who makes his presence known by rumbling the earth, filling the sky with smoke, and pouring lava down the mountainside. Angered by those who forget to honor him for providing their harvest, the Mountain Spirit has stopped sending rain to Jade's village and the people are faced with the possibility of having to abandon their homes and land.

As Jade collects water from the near-dry lake, a blue hummingbird-a messenger from the Mountain Spirit-tells Jade she must take a gift to the Mountain Spirit and ask for rain. Guided by the hummingbird, Jade presents her food offering to the Mountain Spirit. Pleased, the spirit offers the brave girl corn kernels that she takes back to her village and uses to create the first tortilla.

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 2012 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. Enrique R. Lamadrid is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. Winner of numerous teaching and writing awards, he is the author of many books for a wide variety of audiences. His most recent book for young readers is Amadito and the Hero Children / Amadito y los Ninos Heroes . 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.