The Farolitos of Christmas
Richly colored full-page paintings show a Chicano family that is part of a New Mexico community. Anaya's story, first published in a magazine in 1987, focuses on Luz, a young girl whose father, wounded in World War II, hasn't come home yet. Her sick grandfather is not strong enough to cut the logs for the traditional luminarias (small bonfires), so Luz and her Indian friend Reina from a nearby pueblo find a way to make farolitos (lighted candles in paper bags weighted with sand) to light the way for the Christmas pilgrims. --Hazel Rochman, Booklist
With her father away fighting in World War II and her grandfather too sick to create the traditional luminaria, Luz helps create farolitos, little lanterns, for their Christmas celebration instead. --from UNM Library