The Old Man and His Door

In Mexico, there was once an old man who loved to work in his garden but was "terrible at listening to his wife." Yes, he grew enormous tomatoes and spicy hot chiles and his "chickens were large and white, and his pigs as plump as water balloons" but whenever his wife tried to get his attention and talk to him he did not listen. Knowing this, you can imagine what happened the day he was washing their dog, Coco, and his wife was heading off to visit a friend. As the old man chased his dog around and around the house and around and around the avacado tree, the old woman yelled to him, "I want you to bring el puerco" when you come to join us. She shouted it over and over. But did he listen? No he did not. When it was time for the old man to leave and go to visit the friends, he unscrewed the front door from its hinges and set off carrying la puerta on his back. The fun of this story is all the people he meets along the way and all the different uses he finds for his door. As he journeys along, he collects all sorts of wonderful things that make a buffet on his door. If you keep an open mind in life and go with the flow, all sorts of wondrous gifts will come your way. There is a glorious moment when he arrives at the party with his door loaded with good things much to his wife's surprise. A great read aloud.