Cantora Mercedes Sosa, the voice of Latin America

Nitsche does beautiful job of introducing Argentinian folk singer Mercedes Sosa to a young audience in this picture-book biography. It begins during Sosa's childhood, showing her as a shy girl in a poor but loving home, who found the courage to sing for others after friends persuaded her to enter a radio contest. She gained popularity in Argentina for her beautiful voice and heartfelt songs, which were taken up by many protesting the country's political turmoil and economic disparities. Eventually, Sosa underwent arrest and exile, but an exuberant homecoming returned her to the stage and the people and country she loved. Nitsche's beautiful illustrations, painted in Procreate, are similar to Devin Holzwarth's artwork in Shannon Stocker's Listen (2022), as Sosa's voice streams forth in ribbons of color and drum beats reverberate in red, concentric circles. The poetic text concludes with robust back matter, including a Spanish glossary, a detailed time line, and a playlist of Sosa's songs. Also available in Spanish, Cantora: Mercedes Sosa, la voz de Latinoamérica.

After winning a radio contest as a child, Argentinian vocalist Mercedes Sosa (1935--2009) dedicated her life to singing about social injustice, becoming "the voice of the voiceless." When a military dictatorship threatened her and banned her music, "Mercedes's heart trembled and raced through each performance... but she kept on singing," even when exiled from her homeland. Though political context receives cursory treatment, the beat of Sosa's heart and her bombo drum echo throughout Fernández Nitsche's affectionate text, which emphasizes the way she became "a bridge between cultures, languages, and generations." Rounded digitally rendered figures and bold red, black, and gold accents stream through muted backgrounds and ample white space, emphasizing the wide reach of Sosa's musical activism. A concluding timeline fills in biographical details, though the historical impact of Sosa's activism remains unaddressed. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4--8. (Sept.)

An introduction to an Argentinian singer and social activist known as "the voice of the voiceless." Beginning with the future cantora's birth in a region where "the valleys are vibrant and the high peaks of the mountains reach the sky," Fernández Nitsche writes lyrically of how Mercedes Sosa first gained attention for her voice in a radio competition and went on to sing folk songs, accompanying herself on a bombo (drum), in support of social causes, becoming "a bridge between cultures, languages, and generations." Sosa endured arrest (in the middle of a concert!) and years of exile when the military dictatorship that came to power in the late 1970s found her protest songs threatening. The author relegates mention of the subject's European and Indigenous parentage, as well as most other biographical details, to an appended timeline in order to focus on her spirit and her legacy: "Mercedes's voice still beats strongly today, just like her bombo did." And whether standing on stage, behind bars, or amid banner-wielding marchers in the illustrations, swaddled in heavy woven robes, her solid figure has a suitably iconic look. Warm swirls of color throughout make clear the power of her voice. Sosa died in 2009, but a playlist in the backmatter will help younger audiences unfamiliar with her name understand what they've been missing. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Soaring tribute to a voice less well known that it should be, at least outside Latin America. (author's note, Spanish glossary, select sources) (Picture-book biography. 6-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.