Grandma's Records (Rise and Shine) - Softcover

Velasquez, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802776604 ISBN 13: 9780802776600

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2004

Synopsis

Coretta Scott King and John Steptoe New Talent Award winner Eric Velasquez shines in the perfect picture book to read with grandparents.

Every summer, Eric goes to live with his grandmother in El Barrio (Spanish Harlem) while his parents work. Through the long hot days, Grandma fills her apartment with the blaring horns and conga drums of Bomba y Plena, salsa, and merengue-the music she grew up with in Puerto Rico-sharing her memories and passions with Eric.

But Eric sees Grandma in a new light when she gets them tickets to hear their favorite band in concert. The music sounds so different than it does at home on their scratchy records. And then the lead singer serenades Grandma right in front of the whole audience!

Join Eric Velasquez on a magical journey through time and across cultures, as a young boy's passion for music and art is forged by a powerful bond between generations.

About this title

About the Author:

Eric Velasquez won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for his illustrations in The Piano Man. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts and now lives in Hartsdale, New York, with his wife, Deborah.

From Publishers Weekly:

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.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0802776604
• ISBN 13: 9780802776600
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Velasquez Eric