Sofi and the Magic, Musical Mural / Sofi Y El Magico Mural Musical (English and Spanish Edition)($15.10Value)

Description

When Sofi walks through her barrio to the local store, she always passes a huge mural with images from Puerto Rico: musicians, dancers, tropical flowers and her least favorite a vejigante, a character from carnival that wears a scary mask. One day on her way home from the bodega, she stops in front of the mural. Is one of the dancers inviting her to be his partner? "Okay, let's dance," Sofi giggles, and suddenly she's in Old San Juan, surrounded by dancers and musicians playing bongos, tambourines and g iros. She begins to dance and sing with her new friends, but her pleasure turns to fear when the vejigante wearing a black jumper with yellow fringe and a red, three-horned mask spins her around and around! What does he want from her? How can she get away? This story about an imaginative girl and a magical mural is an engaging exploration of Puerto Rico's cultural traditions as well as an ode to public art and the community it depicts. Gr 1–3—This bilingual foray into magical realism revolves around a Puerto Rican folkloric symbol, the vejigante. With its horned mask and black "jumpsuit," the devil/trickster figure traditional to the carnavales of Puerto Rico is scary to young Sofi. Her mother sends her to the bodega at the end of the block of their South Bronx neighborhood for some milk. On her way back, she decides to take a closer look at the mural she always sees from her apartment. She crosses the street (by herself, after her mother admonishes her to not talk to "ANYONE!" and to "Go straight to the store and back."). Stepping into illustrator Dominguez's mural, "El Pueblo Cantor," à la Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, she joins the dancers and musicians depicted. In the middle of her dancing, Sofi is caught by surprise when the vejigante appears. He takes the frightened child's hand and spins her until she finds herself transformed into the trickster—costume and all. Sofi is suddenly airborne and flying over the Puerto Rican rain forest El Yunque, until her mother calls her back to her neighborhood. The story is somewhat confusing because the initial setting is vague. The fact that Sofi lives in South Bronx and not in Puerto Rico is not revealed until the glossary, where the location of the mural is given. VERDICT Readers looking for more insight into the Puerto Rican culture may be disappointed because the information provided is insufficient to encourage further exploration of the island culture.—Mary Margaret Mercado, Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ "Magical realism merges with celebration of family heritage in this story of a Puerto Rican girl who seems to enter a large mural painted on a wall across the street from her home. The illustrations are dreamlike and offer a playful vibe." -- Foreward Reviews "Foreward Reviews" When Sofi walks through her barrio to the local store, she always passes a huge mural with images from Puerto Rico: musicians, dancers, tropical flowers and--her least favorite--a vejigante , a character from carnival that wears a scary mask. One day on her way home from the bodega, she stops in front of the mural. Is one of the dancers inviting her to be his partner? "Okay, let's dance," Sofi giggles, and suddenly she's in Old San Juan, surrounded by dancers and musicians playing bongos, tambourines and giros . She begins to dance and sing with her new friends, but her pleasure turns to fear when the vejigante --wearing a black jumper with yellow fringe and a red, three-horned mask--spins her around and around! What does he want from her? How can she get away? This story about an imaginative girl and a magical mural is an engaging exploration of Puerto Rico's cultural traditions as well as an ode to public art and the community it depicts. Featuring Maria Dominguez's lovingly rendered, colorful illustrations, this bilingual picture book introduces the topic of community art to children ages 4 to 8. After reading this book, children--and some adults too--will want to make and share their own artistic creations! Raquel M. Ortiz, a professor at Boricua College in New York City, was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Salamanca and has worked at The Brooklyn Museum, the Allen Memorial Art Museum and El Museo del Barrio. Raquel is the author of El arte de la identidad (Editorial Universidad de Granada, 2011) and a documentary, Memories on the Wall: Education and Enrichment through Community Murals . This is her first picture book.