Eloísa's Musical Window
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by stories from her mother’s childhood, acclaimed author Margarita Engle and award-winning artist John Parra have crafted a vibrant picture book about a young girl and her family who find joy in the music flowing from outside their window.
Eloísa loves music, but with her family too poor to buy a radio, she can only hear it when rhythms and melodies drift through her open window. Birds and cats raise their voices in daily choruses, and songs from a neighbor’s radio travel through the air. On the street below, children shake maracas and beat a steady rhythm on bongo drums and a lute, a cowbell, and un güiro round out the orchestra.
The sounds of her neighborhood are music enough for Eloísa, but when Mamá gets sick and the family can’t afford medicine, can la música soothe her the way it’s always comforted Eloísa?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Focusing on music's power to heal and uplift, Engle, per an author's note, reflects on a chapter of her mother's childhood. In Cuba, young Eloísa finds comfort in music as her mother tries to recover from a serious illness, eating endless bowls of soup. The family cannot afford a radio, so Eloísa listens out the window to the neighbor's and takes in the musicality of everyday sounds, including cats' "miau, miau" and a cow's "mu-muing." Parra's signature-style illustrations portray the child sitting at a window with green bars as the community sweetens a difficult time, uplifting Eloísa and her family—and eventually giving way to unfettered connection outside the home. Information about Cuban instruments concludes. Ages 4–8.
