Indio Bravo : The Story of Jose Rizal

As a young girls, Asuncion Lopez-Rizal Bantug sat on her uncle Paciano's lap and asked him to tell her stories about his brother, Jose. Ms. Bantug, the granddaughter of Rizal's eldest sister Narcisa, was her family's journalist and chronicler. Fondly nicknamed "the little question boy," she piled her relatives for their recollections about Lolo Jose. Over the years, she copiously filled up notebooks with details about the life of our national hero. For over fifty years, Ms. Bantug's memoirs have served as the basis for many of the stories historians have told about Rizal. In 1938, Ms. Bantug won third prize in the Commonwealth Biography Contest for the life story she penned about her granduncle. That manuscript served the basis for this book. Here is an intimate account by the one lady who, perhaps more than any other living writer, can give us a rare insider's look at Rizal's private life. Tanahan Books for Young Readers has brought together a powerhouse cast of talent to create a solid biography tailor-made for young people. The book was co-written by Sylvia Mendez Ventura, herself a master writer of nonfiction, and edited by Nick Joaquin. The highly acclaimed artist Ben Cabrera--popularly known as Bencab--provided nearly twenty illustrations depicting the life of Rizal. Bencab based his work on numerous books, photographs, film clips, and paintings of the national hero. INDIO BRAVO: THE STORY OF JOSE RIZAL offers young Filipinos a lucid, detailed portrait of the man whose appointment at Bagumbayan ultimately paved the way for Philippine independence.