Goodnight, Papito Dios / Buenas noches, Papito Dios

Victor Villaseñor

Nov 2007 · Arte Publico Press

About this ebook

"Papa, I don't want to go to sleep. I'm scared." Everyone knows that the trick to putting children to bed is creating a bedtime routine, and in this new children's story from Victor Villasenor, he recreates his own family's bedtime tradition. Papa tells his son that every night when he was a boy, his mother would sing him to sleep with the turtledove song. "Coo-coo-roo-coo-coooo," he sings, and tells the little boy about his very own Guardian Angel who will take him through the night sky to be reunited with God, or Papito Dios. "Then in the morning, you'll come back refreshed, rested, and powerful as the wind." As Papa sings the turtledove song to his son, he reminds the child that Mama loves him, the dog and the cat love him, and his brothers and sisters love him too. Even the trees and grass and the flowers that dance in the wind love him. Gradually, the boy drifts off to sleep, feeling safe and warm in God's love and dreaming of the day when he will sing the turtledove song to his own children.

About the author

VICTOR VILLASEÑOR is the author of The Stranger and the Red Rooster / El forastero y el gallo rojo (Piñata Books, 2006), The Frog and His Friends Save Humanity /La rana y sus amigos salvan a la humanidad (Piñata Books, 2005), Little Crow to the Rescue / El Cuervito al rescate (Piñata Books, 2005), and Mother Fox and Mr. Coyote / Mamá Zorra y Don Coyote (Piñata Books, 2004). He is also the author of numerous acclaimed titles for adults and young adults, including Burro Genius: A Memoir (Rayo, 2004); Macho! (Arte Público Press, 2003), which was chosen by the New York Public Library for its distinguished list of Books for the Teen Age; Walking Stars (Piñata Books, 2003); and Rain of Gold (Arte Público Press, 1991).

JOSÉ RAMÍREZ, a native of Los Angeles where he continues to live and work, is the illustrator of the award-winning books The Frog and His Friends Saved Humanity / La rana y sus amigos salvan a la humanidad (Piñata Books, 2005) and Quinito’s Neighborhood / El vecindario de Quinito (Children’s Book Press, 2005).

CAROLINA VILLARROEL is the Brown Foundation Director of Research at Arte Público Press. Carolina began at Arte Público Press in 1997 as a Research Assistant while pursuing her Ph.D. in the UH Hispanic Studies Department. She now oversees the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project.