Martina the Beautiful Cockroach

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

Martina the Cockroach lives in a Havana and now that she is 21 days old, she is ready to get married.  She has to find suitors.  Her Abuela wants her give them The Coffee Test.  She wants her to spill coffee on their shoe and see their reaction.  This test will show their true colors.  After Don Gallo, Don Cerdo, Don Lagarto all fail the test, she finally meets Perez.  Before she could do The Coffee test on him, he does it on her. They both fell in love with each other.  This picture book uses its setting, plot, style, and illustrations to capture the readers attention.  It has a beautiful and colorful illustrations. The colors were used to convey the emotions of the characters.  The setting and plot were very important to how the characters were developed in the story.  The style of language that is used is Spanish is to accent Cuban culture.  Deedy even used some wordplay in the book, which added humor.  Students may listen to the story and read along on:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woIWfPwuOtw.  You may also use the story to introduce folktales to your students in a social studies lesson.