Six eerie tales featuring owls, told in English and Spanish, reveal superstitions about these unusual birds, as well as the culture of the barrio and Mexican Americans who live there.

Flor returns to school from a vacation in Mexico, only to find she brought back a small man with dark yellow skin and thin, stringy hair, who emerges from her backpack and introduces himself as Rafa, a mummy from the famous museum in Guanajuato.

As they prepare to make the traditional, pillowy bread called sopaipilla, Cristina's grandmother tells about the time her great-grandfather, aided by a scarecrow, brought an end to a drought and, in the process, helped make the first sopaipilla. Mientras se preparan para hacer el pan esponjoso tradicional que se llama sopaipilla, la abuela de Cristina le cuenta del tiempo en que su bisabuelo, con la ayuda de un espantapájaros, puso fin a una sequía,...

As they prepare to make the traditional Christmas cookies known as bizcochitos, Christina's grandmother tells her the story of how a magical butterfly first introduced these sweet treats to her great grandfather, a shepherd in the hills of New Mexico.

Months after confronting the legendary La Llorona, Paola starts dreaming again, this time about fantasmas that are stalking her and someone who might be even more dangerous--her estranged father.

"Mateo, a Mexican-American fourth grader from California, spots two skunks stealing his sister's trike. He launches a crusade to retrieve the trike and soon learns that the skunks are not only thieves--they can talk, too!"-- Provided by publisher.

The night before Christmas: Clement C. Moore's classic poem about a visit from St. Nicholas. In the month of Kislev: A rich, arrogant merchant takes the family of a poor peddler to court and learns a lesson about the meaning of Hanukkah. Seven candles for Kwanza: describes the origins and practices of Kwanzaa, the seven-day festival during which people of African descent rejoice in their ancestral values. Too many tamales: Maria feels very grown-up...

In Silver Springs, Arizona, her mother's stories of the monstrous La Llorona are thrilling but unbelievable to science-loving Paola until she and her best friends Dante and Emma take a walk through a cactus field near the Gila River.

Thirteen-year-old Güero stands by and supports his first girlfriend, Joanna, after the sudden deportation of her father.

Before she decides whether to accept her stepfather's proposal of adoption, twelve-year-old Adela Ramírez reaches out to her estranged biological father--who is in the midst of a career comeback as a luchador--and the eccentric extended family of wrestlers she has never met, bringing Adela closer to understanding the expansive definition of family.