Tito Puente: Mambo King/Rey del mambo

PreS-Gr 2—Brown has written a series of picture-book biographies of Latino poets and musicians that have set the standard for what a biography for young readers should be. She has taken the lives of Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Gabriel García Marquez, and Celia Cruz and created a special type of poetry of her own, with lyrical texts that capture the essence of who these artists were. This newest title is no different. Puente's first band was called Los Happy Boys, and, like his music, reading this book aloud can't fail to put a smile on one's face. It's particularly exciting that Rafael López, the illustrator of Brown's biography of Celia Cruz, has returned for this portrait of another Latin musician. From the cover that shows a grinning Puente gleefully beating on drums with what look like four arms, the joy that he took in music-making can hardly be contained on the page.Activity Ideas: Of course the only thing lacking is the music itself, so I suggest using Tito Puente as the basis for a Latin-music-themed storytime. Since the book is bilingual, it lends itself to the technique of using two readers—one to read in English, and the other in Spanish. Then play some Mambo music, preferably by Puente himself, and let everyone dance. If you know the mambo, the rumba, or the cha-cha, you could even teach some basic steps. (A basic rumba rhythm is included on the back page of the book.) Brown mentions that Puente was making music before he could walk, banging on spoons and forks, and pots and pans. Bring some utensils and see how your storytime crowd can make music. Since Puente notably recorded with Celia Cruz, you could pair this with Brown's My Name Is Celia (Luna Rising, 2004 )for a celebration of Latin rhythms. If you use an iPod for your storytime music, there is an "iTunes Essentials" playlist of Puente's music that you could purchase that includes a track with Cruz singing a number entitled "Celia y Tito."