The Burro of Angelitos — Peggy Pond Church

The Burro of Angelitos, charming and beautifully illustrated as it is, delightful to children and their adults, is actually a bit of a political statement. In 1930s New Mexico, artists, writers and ethnologists were convinced that the coming of modernity would mean the end of a way of life that they found original and beautiful and unique. Fortunately, the adventures of this independent little burro of the past, in a community that might be one of several villages still to be found in Northern New Mexico, will charm us today. While some might expect Tranquilidad de Onate, the burro's companion, to be a caricature, Gigi Johnson, the illustrator of this book, saw him as a handsome representation of an isolated, beautiful lifestyle that is now history. However, he is also a man who needs to find meaning in his life, as Peggy Pond Church intended, and as a small lesson in the story for children. The humor in the language of the book will bring smiles, especially when read aloud, while the quality of the illustrations enrich the lovely story revived so handsomely by Sunstone Press. In addition to The Burro of Angelitos, originally published in 1936, she is the author of Foretaste and Familiar Journey (both in new editions from Sunstone Press), as well as Ultimatum for Man and The House at Otowi Bridge among others. In 2010, a children's story written by Peggy in the 1930s was published as a bilingual book titled Shoes for the Santo Nino, and in 2011 the story was adapted to become a children's opera.