K-Gr 3—Anita comes home from school on her seventh birthday to find her mother singing opera and floating in the air. Outside, her dog, Tito, is also floating. "'It's been happening all day, every time I sing!'" says Mama. Then Anita realizes that everyone who hears the music floats, too. But, when some nosy neighbors complain that their pig, goat, and cow are floating, Grandma orders her daughter to stop singing. Mama grows sad, the cow won't give milk, the pig won't eat, and the goat won't sleep. Everyone is miserable. An old picture with a cow stuck in a mango tree helps Anita, Grandma, and Mama discover the special gift that all the women in the family have. Lacámara's debut weaves together a stirring Caribbean tale inspired by her Cuban roots and her mother's opera singing. Both the English and Spanish versions of the story are fun and easy to read, and also well translated. The fusion of Morales's collage illustrations, with bright energetic colors, large warm brown characters, and real photographs interspersed with digitally enhanced foliage, will help children's imaginations take flight. A grand addition to most bilingual collection.—Angélica Sauceda, Anaheim Public Library, Anaheim, CA
When Anita's mom sings she floats in the air, and everyone who hears her floats as well. The neighbors complain, Mama stops singing, and then things go bad with the village animals. Anita discovers a secret about her grandmother that solves the problem. Morales's incandescent illustrations support Lacámara's lovely text, an exercise in Latin American magical realism for picture book readers.
Anita joyfully embraces the news that her mother’s singing causes people to become so happy they float. Lyrical phrases such as “Suddenly I was halfway to the ceiling, feeling a giggle in my belly, as Mama’s voice rose like a golden staircase” seamlessly blend the real and fantastic. The connection between daughter, mother, and grandmother shows a loving multigenerational family. Yuyi Morales’s tropical-toned dreamy scenarios and appealing full-figured, soft-edged characters add to the mystical feel of the story.
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