The Secret Footprints
Alvarez, Julia. 2000. The Secret Footprints. Ill. by Fabian Negrin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN-13: 9780679893097
PLOT SUMMARY
In this text from the Dominican Republic had magical creatures called ciguapas which lived in underwater caves that would only emerge at night to walk on land and hunt for food. The ciguapas live in fear of humans because their queen has warned them that if humans catch them, they will put the ciguapas in cages and take them to the doctors to study them. They had a secret which kept them safe, but once their secret was almost discovered. There was a young ciguapa named Guapa who was “bolder and braver” than all the rest. Despite the queen’s warnings that if humans caught her, Guapa wanders closer and closer to the humans, and is seen one night by a human boy. Later, she wanders to close again and is discovered by the boy’s family but manages to escape. Through this experience, Guapa learns to heed her elders’ advice, and her tribe learns that some human beings can be kind.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In this story, the narrator recalls hearing such stories of the ciguapa when she was a little girl in the Dominican Republic. She remembers the story of a tribe of beautiful women living underwater that would come out at night in search of food. Sea creatures that did not trust humans. The tribe of ciguapas had a secret to defend themselves from being captured. Their feet were not like humans. Their feet were backwards. So when they would emerge from the water. Their footprints were facing the opposite direction so no one was ever able to follow them and find them. The narrator would lay in bed, fighting to stay awake, and hoping she’d see one. She never did see one, until she wrote this story about one little girl ciguapa, whose name was Guapita, who almost gave away a special secret by befriending a human boy.
Avoiding humans at all costs was how they lived. The ciguapas believed that humans would cage them and force them to do tasks. This story originated in the Dominican Republic. Cultural markers can be found in the legend handed down to generations. Alvarez adds that she claims that being in the United States where she was surrounded by books, and where woman were encouraged to discover their talents, contributed to her becoming an author.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
• CRITICS REVIEW: Negrin's pastel, dramatically hued illustrations gorgeously capture the lush tropical settings as well as the moonlit, underwater scenes. This book will be of particular interest to those who share the Dominican background of the author and story.
• SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Alvarez's language flows as effortlessly as the vivid colors in the pictures, setting a mood of ease and tranquility echoed in the rounded forms and curving lines of the illustrations. This gentle tale, with its images of glowing color, conjures up a touch of magic.
CONNECTIONS
In an elementary setting discussion:
Children could imagine that they are magical creatures who do not want to be discovered. What kind of secret could they invent to keep from being found?
Other books by Julia Alvarez:
Alvarez, Julia. How the García Girls Lost their Accents. ISBN-13: 9781565129757
Alvarez, Julia. In the Time of the Butterflies. ISBN-13: 9781565129764
Alvarez, Julia. Something to Declare. ISBN-13: 9780452280670
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