A Bailar!/Let's Dance (English and Spanish Edition) - Hardcover

Cofer, Judith Ortiz

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558856986 ISBN 13: 9781558856981

Publisher: Pinata Books, 2011

Synopsis

"A bailar! There's music in the park today--let's dance!" Marita and her mother are finishing their Saturday chores and anticipating Papi's salsa concert in the park that night, so Mami makes the broom her dance partner to show her daughter how to dance to the music. "Listen to the claves, the bongos, and the cowbells. Listen to the maracas, the timbales, and the giro, they will tell you how to move your shoulders, your hips, your feet." They dance faster and faster, so fast that they fall down on the floor laughing.

That afternoon, they put on their best dresses and dancing shoes, and old Don Jose says they look like "dos lindas flores." He follows them slowly, "his cane tapping out a salsa beat on the sidewalk." The music floats in and out of the barrio's alleys, calling listeners to move, move, move. Soon Marita and her mother are leading a parade of neighbors and friends dancing and singing their way to the concert. And at the park, Papi plays notes on his trombone that are a secret between him and Marita: te veo, te ve-o, te ve-o. I see you, I see you, I see you!

Judith Ortiz Cofer's lyrical text combining English and Spanish is complemented by Christina Ann Rodriguez's vibrant images of the neighborhood's unique characters--viejitos, fruit sellers, boys on skateboards and even babies--reveling in the beat of the music. Families will delight in reading together this warm, energetic look at one community's enjoyment of the sights and sounds of salsa music.

About this title

About the Author

JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, the Regents' and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia, is an award-winning poet, novelist and prose writer whose work deals with her bilingual, bicultural experience as a Puerto Rican woman living on the Mainland. She is the author of numerous books, including Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (Pinata Books, 1991), included in The New York Public Library's Books For The Teen Age 1991 and recipient of a PEN citation, Martha Albrand Award for non-fiction, and a Pushcart Prize; and An Island Like You (Peter Smith Publisher Inc., 1999), recipient of the Pura Belpre Award and named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and an ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Other books for young adults include Call Me Maria (Orchard, 2004) and The Meaning of Consuelo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003).
CHRISTINA ANN RODRIGUEZ obtained her BFA in illustration from the University of Hartford. Her work has been included in various publications, including Spider Magazine. She lives and works in Jackson, New Jersey.

Review

"Cofer has crafted a delightful story, capturing the heart of the Latino community as it interweaves dance and life." --School Library Journal

"You can't help but tap your feet as you read this book...The illustrations are as lively as the rhythm that urges you to move and the Spanish is so well woven into the story that bilingual readers don't even notice the shift from one language to the other." --Children's Literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Pinata Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1558856986
• ISBN 13: 9781558856981
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Rodriguez Christina Ann