Manuel Monroy

The song of the rooster draws forth the universe and gives way to the dance of beings and objects as day draws its first brilliant breath. This book is so supremely simple that a baby can delight in it, and yet so complex that an adult reader can find joy in the poem and beautiful images over and over again. Jorge Lujan dreamed this myth and, when he wrote it, understood that the rooster is the poet of the day. Manuel Monroy dipped his pen in the...

It's the first day of school, but before he goes Chepito runs outside to play. He comes across all kinds of people in his neighborhood -- a man reading a newspaper, a young girl enjoying a comic, a couple of tourists consulting a guidebook, an archeologist studying hieroglyphics . . . "Why, why, why?" he sings, and they each have an answer for him. Later that day Chepito discovers for himself that reading is catching, and he even brings home a book...

Driven out of El Salvador by poverty and violence, Misael Martínez and his family join a caravan on an arduous 2,500 mile journey to Tijuana, Mexico, only to learn the United States border is closed.

The song of the rooster brings up the sun but in due course the night comes to continue the cycle.

The author recalls the period in his childhood when he and his parents lived in Mexico with the poet Pablo Neruda, describing the many things he learned from the poet, such as how to swim, how to eat grasshoppers, and how to stand up for one's beliefs.