This set of short stories reveals a lot about the life of Ana Maria Matute. The short stories are captivating that are easy to read and also have a commical side to them! They have adventures and twist and turns that leave you questioning your own self and the choices you have made. My classmates and I read it for our Spanish 5 AP course. She is a brilliant writer.

Currently I'm a senior in high school preparing for the AP exams in three subjects, one being Spanish Literature. Ana Maria Matute is a great author to use for the test; the spectrum of her works touched every emotional chord in me. The loss of innoncence, jealousy, the cruelty of society, all coexist in her stories. I highly recommend this book to anyone, high school student or not, who wants to explore the realm of spanish literature. Each of her short stories and Fiesta Al Noroeste, which is my favorite, can be applied to anyone and are a joy to read. Matute is one of the best and I personally put her next to Unamuno and Cervantes.

Increible, por todos que le gustan las novellas que tienen un reaccion a la moda del mundo. Gives the reader a sense of environment and sheds light on the all too real problem of broken and abusive households.... giving the impact on the children as well. Me hace darse cuenta que los ninos son productos de su ambiente, somos que nos hacemos...somos unico es de las familias y cultures de sus ninez

I read this book in Spanish and have some good things to say about it and some other comments.

The novel is written in a rushed, but exciting prose that picks up one of its themes, that of flight and escape. Matute has a great talent for this style and once you become involved( right from the start) it's hard to put the book down. The descriptions of rural Spain are a startling revelation for the yankee reader, and the conflict between "los de abajo( the under dogs) y los de arriba( those above)is beautifully done.

The pueblo, Lower Artamila,is not a friendly place and Matute seems to have been born and raised there even though we know she is from Barcelona the capital of Spanish sophistication. The conflict between Juan and Pablo, half brothers in blood and social standing, is lopsided because we learn so much about Juan, the inheritor of of his father's estate. The land where the action takes place and its workforce. Yet we are given the one dimensional portrait of Pablo which to me was not satisfying.

As good as Pablo is we see in counterpoint how evil and confused Juan has become. There is a definite family bond that is emotional at one plane and sexual on another. Mix this with envy and loneliness and you have Juan reavealed as a kind of little monster who is the opposite of the good but boring little half brother Pablo. What goes on inside Juan's head is where the novel both succeeds and fails.

You have little to lose in reading this short book and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't put Lower Artamila on my travel plans, nor woud I want to have as my next door neighbor Juan Medinao.

It being on the reading list aside, this author unwellknown in the United States, is well. I dont have time to write a review that does it justice, but this is what it feels like to be young. Well, for me..I guess I had a bleak childhood.

it saved me in ap spanis

I and my sister grew up with Frederick as one of the most sacred books in our childhood canon. Recently, while shuffling through boxes of ancient heirlooms, I came across the simple, unassuming cover of Frederick (in 1977 the cover showed only the back of Frederick in the lower right corner, gazing into the distance, and no title), and immediately a serene peace overcame me. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about this book. I sat down and read it again, and from a distance of twenty years it still resonated with me. This book brought calm and joy into my heart as a child, and did so again as I read it today. I can't think of any better recommendation for a book than that.

In terms of content, the story of Frederick is simple. In a community narrowly focused on efficiency, one mouse stands apart and concerns himself with art. Frederick notes the wonder of the world he lives in, and takes the time to assimilate it. While his cohorts may grumble at this behavior, when the dreariness of winter overtakes them they are grateful for Frederick's words. Frederick's poetry is seen as an essential supply for survival.

The illustrations are simple and yet extremely expressive -- witness my instant emotional reaction to a cover that was ninety-percent blank space -- and the wording is likewise concise. But the emotional impact of this book is what sets it apart. Out of sixty or seventy books I thumbed through today, I pulled out six that I felt defined my childhood. This book was at the top of the stack.

Simple, almost stark paper collage forms the pictures for this fable about cute little mousies laying in their supplies for the winter. Instead of gathering grains and seeds with the other mice, Frederick gathers colors, scents and other beautiful things that provide the mice with much sustenance during the cold, bleak winter.

This simple little book carries quite a big message about how important art and artists are.

In a children's bookstore, I once heard a father tell his son to put back a picture book because it was "garbage." Maybe he saw the shocked look on my face, because he started lecturing me about how children today need to learn a lot of things and they don't have time to waste on fairy tales and other stories.

Unfortunately, his point of view is becoming more common. It looks like this generation of children is going to grow up in a world that cares more about their ability to memorize facts and formulas and regurgitate them for standardized tests than it cares about their ideas and imaginations.

Leo Lionni's books - especially Frederick - are great antidotes to that narrow mindset.

Frederick is an artistic and imaginative little mouse. While his family gathers food for the winter, Frederick sits around observing. The other mice criticize him for being lazy, but Frederick insists that what he's doing is important - he's collecting words and colors. When winter finally comes, of course, the food Frederick's family gathered sustains them. But eventually the food runs out and it is Frederick's vivid memories of the colors of spring, as well as his poems and stories, that take the other mice's minds off their troubles and get them through the winter.

I don't think there's a better book about the importance of nurturing the imagination than Frederick. When Lionni first wrote it, in 1966, it became an instant classic. Today it's not just a great children's book, it's a crucial one.

Though this book is required for AP Spanish classes, and possibly not a book that many would be drawn to of their own volition, I have to admit that thus far, it has been the least painful book of the class. The autobiographical novel is poignant, and draws the reader into the story quickly and certainly. A good book to read, especially if one is interested in the Spanish Civil War.

Matute's subject matter is the coming of age of a young girl during the troublesome times of the Spanish Civil War. The war remains at a distance, percolating by drops into the story through the reactions of the adults who surround Matia and her cousin, Borja. Spanish cultural patterns and insights make for colorful and interesting reading. Matute's style of writing is uniquely different: lonely, stark, and intensely detailed. The story is bizarre at times, almost surrealistic. Camus-like images of the sun and light and glare evoke the excruciating realities of existentialism. Images are strong and not always pleasant. Tender moments are tender indeed, but the undertoe of isolation, cold-hearted authority, and prejudice pulls the reader into a world poignantly desolate, foreign, and ultimately, cruel.

Why we feel so special about ourselves? Because we know everything about ourselves. Matute reflects here (and in the others books of the trilogy, The Trap and First Memory) how our childhood shapes our future life, and how we cannot do much about it. We can understand our life because we know all things that happened to us, since childhood. Trying to make to understand it to other people is the main problem of living with somebody. Yes, Matute hits the right string inside our souls, and with her wonderful prose, poetically talks about friendship, love and hate, fears and beliefs, during the Spanish civil war. A war that changed the life of the characters of the novel in a very profound way, with no blood nor suffering, but with deep feelings. Only Matute can convince us of the importance of the most secret feelings in our everyday life. I recommend you to read first First Memory, although is not required.

I read this book for school. This is the most boring book i've ever read. If you have problems sleeping.... BUY THIS BOOK. It will put you spleeping in a zap!.

I read this book when I was in school, and back then I like it, but because it what for school I didn't like it too much. Then years later I bought and read it again. This book is awesome. It get you and don't let you go. I have to confess that this is a book for children but it is not so innocent. The story is about a little kid that was leave at the door of the house, where lives three rich sisters. Every woman raise him in her own way and when he is at the brink of adolescence he makes a friendship with a misterious fugitive that offer him to escape with him to discover the world. Will he accept? Read this book and discover one of the best spanish children book. This really deserves a film adaptation, more than the superficial mindless Harry Potter.