New Releases by Joe Hayes

Joe Hayes' mother knew how to stretch the family's budget nearly as well as Joe streeeeeetches the truth.

Rattlesnakes and storyteller Joe Hayes must have a thing for each other. Joe’s teamed up again with Antonio Castro to tell us how one day he saved a rattlesnake’s life. Sure enough, that made the rattlesnake so happy he followed Joe home. The snake became Joe’s pet. Just like a dog. Oh, wow, Joe’s tall tales get taller every year!

In his classic bilingual style, Joe tells the story of a haunted house in a poor little town in Arizona. Nobody will rent that house because they know a ghost lives there. So the landlord tries to rents it out for free. Still nobody will rent it. That is, until Elena’s father rents it. He doesn’t believe in ghosts. Lucky for Elena that her grandmother knows all about the ways of ghosts. Elena, with the help of her grandmother, resolves the mystery of “ghost fever”—and learns a lesson about life. Joe Hayes, who lives in Santa Fe, is an award-winning storyteller renowned especially for his stories in Spanish and English.

Respected raconteur Joe Hayes is built for tall tales—he’s got the world’s longest legs! And Joe—who travels all over the United States telling stories to kids—says that The Gum-Chewing Rattler is the perfect tall tale for kids because it combines so many familiar experiences—chewing lots of bubblegum, getting in trouble in school, driving your mom crazy—with the wild, impossible claim that a certain rattlesnake chewed gum and blew a bubble with it. Couple that with kids’ natural fascination with poisonous snakes, and The Gum-Chewing Rattler turns out to be one of Joe’s most requested stories. Joe’s been telling this wild story for years, since before 1980, when he took those long legs of his out on the road. But now, that old gum-chewer is here for the first time in a picture book with full-color illustrations by Antonio Castro L. Here’s how Joe’s story goes: When Joe was a boy, he chewed lots of bubblegum, his mom got so mad because the gum in his shirt pocket made a terrible mess in the wash! But this wad of bubblegum just happened to save Joe from a rattlesnake’s fangs! Really!! Don’t worry—his mother didn’t believe the story either.

Sisters Rosa and Blanca are so kind, thoughtful, and generous--and such good gardeners--that their Mamá who lives between the two winds up with a great deal of corn, tomatoes, and red hot chiles.

When Joe Hayes was a boy, he loved to wear his black and white high-top sneakers. He wore them every day. “Get rid of those shoes,” his mother told him one morning. “They smell terrible!” But did Joe listen, did he believe what his mother said? Not until he met the back end of a skunk!

Although her mother and sisters make fun of her decision to marry a green bird, to Mirabel he is a prince and so when her family's jealousy endangers him, she sets out to save his life and their love.

A collection of traditional New Mexican Hispanic folktales gathered from the oral tradition in 1931 and translated by famed storyteller Joe Hayes.

Presents favorite Southwestern folktales of storyteller Joe Hayes and storytelling tips.