Where Angels Glide at Dawn: New Stories from Latin America.

• Author: Terrell, Nena

The ten short stories in this collection, which are compiled for young readers, are new much like the "new songs" of Latin America, celebrating the age-old traditions and cultures of the region, uncovering untold history and interpreting the reality of today. Translated from the Spanish, the stories provide a taste of contemporary Latin American literature that can both instruct and delight a broad audience regardless of its familiarity with the region.

An introduction by Isabel Allende presents the perspective on the continent's history from the time of the conquest and the sense of social purpose that underlies the creations of the storytellers. The authors themselves, all renowned and accomplished writers, need no introduction. Allende powerfully sets the stage for young readers to explore the wonder and diversity in every corner of the Americas, "... those magical Latin American lands, characterized by their wild geography, violent history, beautiful myths, legends, and people moved by their great passions."

One of the most imaginative stories begins the collection. "The Bear's Speech" by Julio Cortazar is a two-page discourse by a bear who inhabits the pipes of an apartment building and observes the tenants. The bear's behavior accounts for everything normally associated with a dilapidated infrastructure, from the erratic water pressure to the noise one hears in the pipes at night. Learning about the bear, anyone annoyed by the plumbing in an old building will laugh knowing the mischievous but caring bear is making his rounds cleaning the pipes with his fur.

"The Rebellion of the Magical Rabbits" by Ariel Dorfman brings to a child's dimension the ultimately futile attempts of dictators to control the thoughts of people using the metaphore of wolves who banish rabbits to extinction. Happily, in the end, "the world was full of rabbits."

The next story by Puerto Rican Alfredo Villanueva-Collado is reminiscent of the ludicrous and hilarious scene in the film "Bye-bye Brazil" where a snow-making machine is brought to the Amazon by a traveling burlesque show to "civilize" the South. "The Day We Went to See Snow" recounts the travails of one family who drive to the capital to touch imported snow. By the time they arrive, the snow is a muddy brown slush. "With My Eyes Closed" by Reinaldo Arenas is a touching story of a child who does not like what he encounters on his way to school--beggars and bullies, a cat killed by a car. He so believes in...