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Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (The) by Irene Vasco

Title: Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (The)

Author: Irene Vasco

Translator: Lawrence Schimel

Illustrator: Juan Palomino

Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (USA)

Date Published: 2023

Format: Hardback

Genre:

Book Category: Picture Book

Age Range: 6-8

Original Title: First published in Spanish as La joven maestra y la gran serpiente, Editorial Jueventud, Spain, 2019

Country of Origin: Spain

Young Teacher and the Great Serpent (The)

by Irene Vasco
Age Range: 6-8

After studying for many years, a young teacher is ready for her first assignment, eager to change lives with her books which are her treasured possessions, but when she discovers she is going to a place she has never heard of deep in the Amazon jungle she feels a bit unsettled. Her journey is long and arduous, taking four days to arrive in Comunidad Las Delicias on the banks of the river where an Indigenous community lives. Many of the adults do not speak Spanish; the tiny school has no walls and only a straw roof that shelters some chairs and a blackboard resting against a tree trunk and the teacher’s accommodation is up on the hill.

The children love to hear the stories the young teacher reads aloud to them and they often borrow the books to take home where they exchange them with each other; even the adults look at the books with curiosity.

Then one day, everything changes. As a storm sets in, the children tell the teacher that the great serpent has arrived. Heavy rain pummels the ground and the river becomes swollen and overflows creating a sea of mud which carries off everything in its path, including the teacher’s precious books. Up on higher ground, everyone waits until the waters have subsided and they can return to the banks of the river. The teacher wonders how she is to teach her pupils without her books but it’s not long before the community provide the answer as the women and children create cloth books full of their own stories and legends.

Set along the Amazon River, this stunningly illustrated story by Colombian writer, translator and educator Irene Vasco, translated by Lawrence Schimel and illustrated by Mexican artist Juan Palomino demonstrates the importance of oral storytelling and cross-cultural relationships. Palomino’s exquisite and vibrant artwork lends a real depth to the story as it portrays the teacher’s long journey to reach the Amazon, the lives of the Indigenous community and the power of nature.

For many years Vasco conducted reading workshops and programs in remote Indigenous and agricultural communities. In 2021, the Colombian Ministry of Education recognized Irene’s career with its ‘Life and Work’ distinction.

Also reviewed on the OIW website is Vasco’s Letters in Charcoal, also translated by Lawrence Schimel, illustrated by Juan Palomino, and published by Lantana Publishing (2023).

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