Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

Deedy, C.A. (2007). Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale. Atlanta, Georgia: Peachtree Publishers.

The beautiful cockroach has come of age for a suitor. Her grandmother advises her to make her suitors angry in order to see their true colors before marriage. At the end of her search she finds her perfect match, who in turn had received the same advise from his grandmother. The illustrations are elegant and beautiful just as is the main character. The pictures are bright in the background creating a sense of being back lit and seem three-dimensional. The Cuban culture is prevalent throughout and seen in the cockroach’s Spanish style clothing, accessories, home furnishings as well as the inclusion of the Spanish language in the text.