Overview / 简介: |
| Gr 1-3 - Each year, a boy spends the summer with his grandmother in her apartment in Spanish Harlem. Grandma loves music, and her extensive record collection provides hours of pleasure. Selecting music to share with her and sketching art from album covers are frequent activities. One special summer, Grandma is given two tickets to a live concert by a nephew, a percussionist in a well-known Puerto Rican band. When the lead singer dedicates the last song to her, the child is surprised to see everyone singing "Grandma's special song" ("In My Old San Juan") with eyes closed and a hand placed over the heart. Later he understands that this act symbolizes "that their hearts remain in Puerto Rico even though they may be far away." Finally, he is pictured as an adult in his studio honoring his grandmother and her music through his art. Velasquez's touching yet simply told memoir of this tender relationship is lovingly captured in his illustrations. The old woman's dignity and spunk are etched in her face while her housecoat and slippers, framed photos from long ago, and console phonograph create a distinct sense of time and place. Add this to your study of memoir and be sure to read it aloud in celebration of grandparents and the children they love. You'll be glad you did. |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| Making his authorial debut, Velasquez (The Piano Man) proves himself adept at evoking time and place as well as a loving family bond. The narrator spends his boyhood summers at his grandmother's apartment in Spanish Harlem, where Grandma introduces him to the sounds of merengue and conga, dances with him and tells stories of growing up in Puerto Rico. Whenever she plays one special song, she puts her hand over her heart. Sometimes the boy sketches album covers, sometimes musicians come to visit, but the highlight of the summer is hearing "the best band in Puerto Rico" (Raphael Cortijo's combo) at a big theater in the Bronx. When the lead singer dedicates his grandmother's favorite song to her, the boy is surprised to see the whole audience put their hands over their hearts. Later, he learns that the gesture "show[s] that their hearts remain in Puerto Rico even though they may be far away." In the end, the boy is an adult, shown illustrating this book and listening to a CD, hand over heart. Velasquez comfortably introduces Spanish phrases, adds notes about real-life musicians and offers an aesthetically pleasing array of period album covers on the endpapers. His illustrations are realistic but quiet, toned down in their depiction of Grandma and her tidy, neutral decor the music here emanates from the words. Ages 5-8. |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| This is a beautiful book - the story and the illustrations will truly touch your heart as they did mine. I am in my thirties and just happened to see this book when passing through the children's section of the library. I had to have this! Eric Velasquez passes on the special gift of remembrance of the close bond that he shared with his abuela. You can see and feel every ounce of their love for each other and music on each page. Kids and adults alike NEED more books like these. |
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