Review by School Library Journal Review
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 © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
When Sofi gets sucked into a mural on her street, she dances in Viejo San Juan, flies over Puerto Rico, and overcomes her fear of the trickster vejigante. Despite a unique premise and enjoyable writing in Spanish and English, the plot is marred by lack of conflict and a sudden, clichid ending. Though lifeless, Dominguez's paintings do occasionally evoke a mural. Glos. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Young Sofa walks to the bodega near her apartment to buy milk for her mom. From the sidewalk, she becomes entranced by a vibrant public mural that celebrates Puerto Rican culture.The dancers in the mural pull Sofa in, and she finds herself transported to Puerto Rico, listening to the island's music, singing traditional songs, and dancing with new friends. Before long, the vejigante arrivesa masked trickster who scares Sofa at first. The others encourage her to keep dancing and not to feel afraid. Soon Sofa turns into the vejigante herself, flying high above the island and eventually returning to her spot on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the blunt narration does not rise to the imaginative and whimsical nature of the plot. Information in the backmatter reveals that illustrator Dominguez actually designed the real mural in the Bronx that inspired this story, but like the narration, her images in this picture book don't quite capture the magic of the mural they depict. Though the mural is described as full of movement, the illustrations are static and flat. Ventura's Spanish translation appears below the English text on the verso, while Dominguez's full-bleed paintings occupy the recto of every spread. Overall, this serves more as an overt endorsement for public art than a fully engaging and nuanced story for children. (glossary) (Bilingual picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
