The Gum Chewing Rattler

A humorous tall tale about how one piece of bubblegum saved author Joe Hayes as a young boy.

When Joe Hayes was a boy, he chewed lots of bubblegum. His mom would get so mad when the gum in his shirt pocket made a terrible mess in the wash.

But one wad of bubblegum just happened to save Joe from a rattlesnake's bite. Could you believe it? It really did happen!

Joe Hayes is one of America's premier storytellers. He grew up in a small town in southern Arizona where he started learning Spanish from his classmates. As Hayes got older, he began reading the work of folklorists and anthropologists and gathering the old stories from the Southwest region. His books have received the Arizona Young Readers Award, two Land of Enchantment Children's Book Awards, the Texas Bluebonnet award, and the National Storytelling Network Talking Leaves Award. He lives in New Mexico.

Antonio Castro L.was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and has lived in the Juarez-El Paso area for most of his life.He was awarded a prestigious Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Honor for his illustrations inMy Tata's Remedies/Los remedios de mi tata.He has also illustrated several other picture books for Cinco Puntos Press, includingThe Gum Chewing RattlerandMy Pet Rattlesnake.