El caballo en la cocina is now available at amazon.com. If you search for Ralph M. Flores (but for some reason not if you search for the title), it’ll come up.
Sisters Patricia Padilla from Placitas and Andrea Padilla from Tomé translated stories about Ralph’s father’s Mexican-American family so that new immigrants and New Mexico natives who speak and read mostly Spanish as well as Spanish learners can read them. As one reviewer on Amazon says, “Great stories of a Mexican immigrant family. If it were more widely available, it would make a good school assignment – not too long, easy to read with insight to an American society and their history told mostly from the viewpoint of a teenager.” Another reviewer wishes there were a Spanish translation for her Mexican husband. I’m thinking of bundling the new paperback English version with this forthcoming Spanish version so students can check their own translations without being distracted by dual versions on the same page. Already I know the English version is being used at Jefferson Middle School and College and Career Magnet High at CNM in Albuquerque.
Both native Spanish speakers, Patricia tutored Spanish at UNLV, taught Spanish at John S. Park Elementary and College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, NV and College of the Redwoods in Eureka, CA as well as interpreting for businesses. Andrea, who taught 1st through 6th grades at Central Elementary in Belen for thirteen years, is now President of the Town of Tomé Land Grant which houses a museum and library in the Tome Dominguez Community Center on Highway 47. Andrea is also on the board of New Mexico Land Grant Consejo.
I think translators see the stories better as they translate them than most people do just reading them, and Pat says, “I have to give importance to EVERY word, as one word may change the meaning of the entire sentence.”
SAMPLE TRANSLATION on next page. See drop-down menu.
Ralph M. Flores books 