Overview
On summer nights Marisol helps out in her father's music store and chats with the customers who arrive throughout the evening. In a dazzling array of poetry, each customer tells of a favorite form of Latin dance or music—from salsa to tango to the cha-cha-cha. Back matter includes a map, an author's note, and further information about the diverse musical heritage of Latin America.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
In understated verse, a girl named Marisol explores the role that music plays in her Latino community, introducing the people who visit her father's music store ("Papi says you can/ read people's souls/ by the music/ they listen to"). Grainy grayscale scenes inside the store alternate with kinetic acrylic and colored-pencil tableaus, placed opposite the visitors' monologues. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer strike a sinuous tango pose ("our legs/ swivel and/ turn like/ an electric/ taffy pull"), while Liliana, with "thin shoulders slumped/ under the weight of a full backpack," comes alive when salsa dancing with Rubén: "my troubles leave me/ like a flock of twitchy birds/ flying south for the season." A vivid mingling of poetry, narrative, and art. Ages 8–11. (July)Children's Literature -
Marisol helps her father at his music store all summer long. Her neighbors have moved to the area from all over Latin America, and they visit the store in the evenings to reconnect with the music of their various homelands. Combining music, dance and poetry from many countries, this well-conceived and presented volume of poems will remind many of where their hearts fly home. The music and dance of Latin America is as diverse as the region itself, and the poetry in the book travels from the mariachi music of Mexico to the samba of Brazil with stops along the way in the Andes, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. Some of the pages feature the story told in Marisol's voice, and the art on these pages consists of black-and-white drawings. By comparison, the art on the "dance" pages is done in acrylics, reflecting the richness and color of the music and dance that lives in the hearts and souls of Marisol's neighbors. When the day is done, Marisol and her father return home to their own music and dance celebration. A glossary at the back describes the music of the entire region. Highly recommended. Reviewer: Ellen WeltyKirkus Reviews
Durango's ambitious, inventive poetry collection on Latino music and dance covers an enticing subject but ultimately tries to do too much.
During the summer, Marisol helps her father run his music store. This store attracts a plethora of Latino characters, many of whom long for the music of their home countries. Marisol's first-person free-verse poem frames 14 one-page poems, each titled after different characters. The book alternates between Marisol's evening at the store and these other poems, which appear in duos and trios until Marisol's own verse on the title mambo ends the collection. VandenBroeck's illustrations also rotate, from black and white for the frame narrative to color (replete with grinning, rosy-cheeked characters) for the individual poems. The shorter verses vary in style and length, including free verse, rhymed and concrete poems. Musical styles range from mariachi tovallenato, while the dances cover everything from the cha-cha-cha [sic] to the tango. Adding to the wave of characters, musical styles and dances are Spanish words with few, if any, textual clues, although the author does discuss each style briefly at the book's end. While a few poems allude to the tumultuous backgrounds of some of the styles, the author's note glosses over colonization and slavery in Latin American history.
Despite a few good poems and the much-needed subject matter, the end result lacks cohesion. (author's note, glossary)(Poetry. 8-12)