In order to escape the problems of big city life in Asunción, Paraguay, the Ayala family moves to a village in the beautiful Paraguayan countryside looking for a simpler life. But not everything is so simple here. Deep in the forests of Paraguay lives a creature known as the Pombero. According to the Guaraní (Paraguay's indigenous people) legend, the Pombero is the protector of the forest and the animals within it. If you respect him and his forest and make offerings to him, he might help you. However, if you don't... strange things will begin to happen to you and your loved ones. Will the Ayala family learn this before it's too late? Set in a rural village in Paraguay, known as the Heart of South America, and filled with cultural references; El Pombero has 240 unique words and numerous cognates. Written in the present tense and with dramatic illustrations on every page, El Pombero is a compelling and comprehensible novel for Novice level readers and above.