Burton Elementary: The Surprising Brilliance of "Niño Wrestles the World"

Today I want to review a great children's book that we are reading in library at Burton Elementary this week: "Niño Wrestles the World", by Yuyi Morales.

In this story, a young boy named Niño (or more likely this is his wrestling nickname) imagines himself as a masked luchador in the grand Lucha Libre tradition, overcoming all kinds of fantastical creatures from Mexican culture, as well as an inexplicable space alien who is defeated by marbles.

In the grand finale, Niño finds himself facing off against his most terrifying opponent yet: his two baby sisters, who have just awoken from their nap and are ready to tussle! There are many references to the culture and terminology of Lucha Libre throughout the book, such as the eternal struggle between 'técnicos' (those who wrestle honorably using signature moves) and 'rudos' (those who are willing to use any kind of dirty tricks and traps to overcome their opponents), and the ultimate disgrace of having one's mask removed by an opponent. But despite the Spanish-language terms that appear throughout the text, both Spanish-speaking and non-Spanish-speaking children will enjoy the antics and surprises of the story.

I like to read to our native Spanish language classes in Spanish, so I am trying this year to make notes to translate the stories I read that are in English so that all students can fully enjoy the story. I already knew that this book was brilliant and clever, and full of interesting references that students can make connections to. But it wasn't until I started translating this story's text into Spanish that I realized another instance of the humor and brilliance of this story. In his second bout, Niño faces off against "Cabeza Olmeca", a creature made of stone with an enormous cranium that resembles the real-life giant Olmec heads from Mexico's ancient past.

Previously, I hadn't really understood why Niño's signature move against this opponent was called the "Puzzle Muzzle". I assumed it was just something silly and inexplicable, representing a child's flights of imagination. But while translating the story I had to look up the Spanish word for "puzzle", and got a surprise that made me grin from ear to ear: the word for "puzzle" in Spanish is rompecabezas, which literally means something like "it breaks heads", or "head-breaker", similar to English terms like 'brain-teaser', 'mind-blowing', etc. And what else should the puzzle-muzzle technique do, but literally break Cabeza Olmeca's head? I love that there is a joke in this story (which is mostly in English) that only our Spanish-speaking students will understand. With my older classes, I have asked the students who speak Spanish if they understand the joke, and then I ask them to help me explain the joke to the students who don't know Spanish.

So this week I learned something new about a book I already loved that makes me love it even more. If you have this book in your library, it's a lot of fun to read, and students of all backgrounds will love the action, humor, and heart of the story. It's a book that celebrates culture, history, family, and a young child's fearless imagination, with a healthy dose of silliness and funny sound effects. Check it out!

- Dennis De Boer