Pajaro Verde, the dream-like story of an enchanted prince and nine curious sisters, is now available in paperback. Winner of an IPPY award, Pajaro Verde tells of a green bird who proposes marriage to a young girl named Mirabel. She only has two eyes, but her sisters each have a different number of eyes, beginning with the oldest, who has nine, down to the youngest, with just one. Though they mock Mirabel and her mother forbids it, Mirabel's steadfast vision sees past the bird to a handsome prince, and she marries him What happens next can only happen in a fairy tale...

Kids always want Joe Hayes to tell The Gum-Chewing Rattler. And why not? It combines so many things kids love to do--chew bubble gum, tell tall tales, and drive their moms crazy--with the wild, impossible claim that a rattlesnake chewed gum and blew a bubble with it

You see, when Joe was a boy, that's what he told his mother--that bubble gum saved him from a rattlesnake's fangs Really Don't worry--Joe's mother didn't believe him either.

In 2005, Joe Hayes received the Talking Leaves Award from the National Storytelling Network for his contributions to the...

What happens when an old dog sitting at the dinner table with his master slides a whole leg of lamb, a big bowl of posole, a stack of tortillas and a bottle of wine to a coyote, who just happens to be under the table? A whole ruckus, that's what

But that's nothing compared with some of the other wild and wonderful folktales gathered by author Joe Hayes in this bilingual edition of The Coyote Under the Table. Like his signature collection The Day It Snowed Tortillas, this book is full of lively characters and laugh-out-loud stories. There's a trio of unsuitable...

Joe Hayes is back with another unbelievable, astounding, and totally true tall tale, straight from his own childhood in the Arizona desert.

One day little Joe is out in the desert, walking around, and he sees a rattlesnake in trouble. Joe saves the snake's life That's when things get weird. The rattler follows Joe home. My gosh It's only a rattlesnake, nothing new for a desert boy like Joe, so he keeps him for a pet. His dad is annoyed, the neighbors are terrified, but soon the friendly snake slithers his way into their hearts. The snake cuddles at the foot of Joe's bed, plays in...

Kids today grow up knowing all about recycling. But when Joe Hayes was a kid, recycling hadn't been invented. Money was so tight for Joe's family that they had to be inventive about using and reusing everything. They didn't call it recycling, they called it making do. Joe says his family was dirt-poor. In fact, he says, they lived in a wide-open stretch of played-out land where even the dirt was broke, so impoverished that all anyone could manage to get out of it was beans. Beans and more beans, that's all folks grew and that's all folks ate. So imagine the family's delight when Joe's...