Manos Que Bailan (Spanish Edition)
Author: Margarita Engle
Illustrator: Rafael López
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Kids
Ages 4-8
This Pura Belpre Illustration Winner is a wonder to behold. López’ illustrations are nothing less than glorious and balance the line between elegance and grace as daintally as Teresa Carreño could play a glissando on the piano.
Carreño, a Venezuelan piano prodigy (if you don’t know anything about her, you should) fled to the United States at age eight with her family, when Venezuela was undergoing a revolution. The picturebook tells the story of how the U.S. was in the middle of its own revolution and how Carreño eventually played for then President Abraham Lincoln.
A wonderful “historic note” at the end of the book provides context as well as some interesting details. In Venezuela, she is known as “La Leona del piano.” Interestingly, although she only returned to her country of origin once, there is a beautiful theatre named after her in Caracas.
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My thanks to Simon and Schuster Kids for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.
More books for this Age Group can be found here and here.
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