“Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras” by Duncan Tonathiuh
Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, 2015, 32 pages, Grades K-3.
Mexico has many beautiful customs. The dances in the country are exciting and draw on both Indian and Spanish traditions. One national holiday is particularly popular, the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This widely celebrated day occurs every Nov. 1 -2.
Originally a native feast in Mexico, the celebration began to be observed on All Saints and All Souls Day after the Spanish Conquest.
Special foods are prepared for the commemoration and people enjoy remembering their deceased family members. The artist most responsible for popularizing this festival was José Guadalupe Posada. Duncan Tonathiuh has written an engaging biography about this talented man and his use of calaveras (skulls) to popularize the Dia de los Muertos in Mexico.
In 1852, José Guadalupe Posada is born in the north central Mexican state of Aguascalientes. His family calls him Lupe. As a young boy, Lupe became interested in art and drawing. Lupe’s older brother sees the talent in the lad and enrolls him in a local art school. There Lupe learns to make drawings, lithographs and other types of art. He is talented and soon creates cartoon drawings of local politicians that are both humorous and politically provocative.
Eventually he moves to Mexico City and continues drawing and soon begins sketching pictures for the Day of the Dead. The pictures use skeletons in most cases and are frequently portrayed doing funny things. Posada moves beyond the Dia de los Muertos and sketches political figures as calavera characters. Now his cartoon characters become political statements about events occurring in Mexico. This increases his popularity with the masses.
There is always humor in the pictures because the skeletons keep asking each other funny questions. There is also the fact that calaveras remind readers that life will come to an end. This raises the question of what people have done with their lives on earth. In this sense, the calaveras are a testimony to Posada’s belief in the necessity of living a virtuous life. Until his death after the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Posada continues to tap deeply into the Mexico psyche with his art. Why is this?
Why are Posada’s drawings so famous? Are they just funny, or do they tell readers about the importance of living each day for others?
Have you ever heard of Dia de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead? Why is it celebrated on All Saints and All Souls Day? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this fine work of nonfiction, “Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras” by Duncan Tonathiuh.
This is a fascinating book to read. The American Library Association has awarded it both the Pura Belpre Honor Award (book award about the best portrayal of Latin American issues) and the Robert Sibert Medal as the outstanding book in nonfiction for 2016. It is a book that can be read in a group setting or by individual readers. I think it can be read for enjoyment and education and is also a book that younger readers would like to hear read to them.
So if you don’t know anything about José Posada or the Day of the Dead, this is the book for you. It is great fun! Enjoy!
