Tito Puente, Mambo King/Tito Puente, Rey Del Mambo (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown is a beautiful story of Tito Puente's life. Even as a baby Tito showed great musical promise. With the support of his family his love for music was fostered until it grew into something that would affect the world. This biographical picture book of Tito Puente uses vibrant, larger-than-life, illustrations to show the passion that Tito applies to his love of music. The two-page illustrations are the focus of the story, the words are seamlessly interspersed throughout the pictures to make sure they didn't detract from any of the illustrations. Although the people and the world of the story are not realistic depictions, the pictures pull the reader in with bold colors and gives the reader plenty to look at on every page. Summary: This book is written in both English and Spanish. This book depicts the life of a little boy who loves music and continues on with his dream as he becomes older. It is actually based on a true story of a man whose name is Titi Puente—who recorded 118 albums and won 5 Grammies. WOW!Personal Response/Critical Response: This book is awesome. I love how this book has English on one page and Spanish on the other. It brings these two languages together. If you have Spanish speaking children or ELL children in your classroom this would be an amazing book to use. It will really draw them in and make them feel more at ease in your classroom. This book is also great to bring some diversity into your classroom and get other students thinking about different cultures.Description of Illustrations: The illustrations are vibrant—so many bright colors. The illustrations cover the whole pages. They are so alive and happy and give the reader a good vibe.Classroom Connections: After reading this book aloud to my classroom, I will have the children make their own band. Each student will be provided and instrument and we will perform as a class for another classroom. I think the children we will really enjoy this. After the performance, students will be instructed to write how they felt during it- did they like it or not? How did performing make you feel?
What do You think about Tito Puente, Mambo King/Tito Puente, Rey Del Mambo (2013)?
A beautiful bilingual picture book about Mambo King Tito Puente.
—bebbanne
A lively, vibrant introduction to the musician.
—rachelfiggy
