This thematic unit was written by Michele Montas and Luz Cannon, middle school Spanish teachers, who were participants in a summer institute held at the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center in 2001. The institute, called "Temas Anejos: Recurring Themes in Ancient and Modern Latin America," brought together a talented group of professors. This unit is based on "La peineta colorada" ("The Red Comb"), a Puerto Rican children's book by Fernando Pico and illustrated by Maria Ordonez. The story tells how a young girl and an older woman work together to save a runaway slave from a rich man who earned his living chasing and capturing runaway slaves. The activities in "La peineta colorada" are carefully planned with the foreign language standards in mind. They integrate language with culture and content in interesting ways. Each lesson has a well-thought-out language plan in order for students to reach high levels of proficiency. As they progress though the unit, students practice using the language through a variety of activities before they analyze it as a grammatical concept. Many activity sheets are included in the unit along with several assessment criteria and additional suggestions for evaluation.