When the Queen's beautiful pearl necklace - presented to her by the King as a birthday gift - goes missing, there is a great hue and cry. But though the searchers look everywhere, they cannot locate it, prompting the King to offer a reward for its recovery. It falls to Juan Bobo - a simple young man from the highlands - to solve the mystery, which he inadvertently does, while strumming his guitar and listening to the nightingales...

A humorous tale from Pura Belpré's native Puerto Rico, Juan Bobo and the Queen's Necklace features the simpleton folk-hero ("bobo" means "silly" or "stupid" in Spanish) who appears in so many Latin American folk traditions. Young readers will enjoy the story, in which the hero stumbles upon his fortune almost by accident, as well as the illustrations by Christine Price. With black lines, and pink and green tones, the artwork reminded me a bit of Lois Lenski. All in all, this was a very appealing picture-book, and should be of particular interest to young folklore enthusiasts, as well as those readers (like myself) looking to familiarize themselves with Belpré's work. ( )