ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a critical content analysis of Holy Molé!: A Folktale from Mexico, by Caroline McAlister and illustrated by Stefan Czernecki (McAlister 2006). The picture book offers a retelling of a traditional Mexican tale about the origins of mole. The analysis occurred within a sociohistorical context by which the legacy of a colonialist ideology often erases and appropriates the contributions of Indigenous communities. The study was informed by decolonizing theory, the critical perspectives of Latina/Chicana epistemologies, and the concepts of narrative aesthetics. This chapter examines the ways in which the visual strategies in Holy Molé! position readers to view the book’s illustrations of the Indigenous and European characters and the images of the mole preparation from colonialist perspectives. Moreover, it discusses the researchers’ processes for story content analysis, for tracking and comparing the descriptive attributions and relationships of the story characters, and for recognizing the illustrator’s use of drawing graduation, weight, and style to strategically position readers relative to the characters.
