CB - Gollub and Martinez, Twenty-Five Mixtec Cats

Twenty-Five Mixtec Cats; Matthew Gollub and Leovigildo Martinez (1993) 32 pp.,13 oz---      [ages: 5+, reading grades 2+]  [Mayan Legends and Folk Tales]

A fun fanciful original folk tale that uses the backdrop of an Oaxacan Mexican Village to convey the message that people should be open to people (or in this case cats) who are different.  The plot focuses on an Oaxacan village healer who takes in 25 Mixtec cats.  The suspicious villagers, led by the butcher, are unfamiliar with cats and try to rid the village of the cats using an evil spell.  The spell doesn't quite work as planned and the cats end up as village heroes.  Artwork by an Oaxacan artist and the interweaving of folk traditions add to this original fictional tale by Gollub