¡Mambo Mucho Mambo! El Baile Que Atravesó La Barrera del Color

New York City's desegregated Palladium Ballroom springs to life with a diverse 1940s cast in this jazzy picture-book tribute to the history of mambo and Latin jazz.

Era la década de 1940 en la segregada cuidad de Nueva York. Ya sea que bailaras al sonido de las trompetas y los saxofones en un salón en el barrio italiano o en la calle al son de maracas y congas en el barrio puertorriqueño, generalmente bailabas en el lugar donde vivías y con gente de tu mismo origen. Pero antes de que terminara la década, una nueva sala de baile -- el Palladium - acogió a personas de todos los vecindarios. Cuando Millie Donay y Pedro Aguilar se encontraron en la pista de baile del Palladium, brotaron chispas y se derribaron barreras.

Dean Robbins cuenta cómo el Palladium, un excitante nuevo sonido llamado jazz latino y un baile pegajoso de Cuba llamado mambo, impulsaron el inicio del movimiento de los derechos civiles. Y Eric Velasquez retrata los bailarines de todos los lugares de la ciudad, emparejados, moviéndose hacia delante y hacia atrás, de un lado a otro, dando vueltas y balanceándose al son del jazz latino de Machito y sus Afrocubanos.

Millie danced to jazz in her Italian neighborhood. Pedro danced to Latin songs in his Puerto Rican neighborhood. It was the 1940s in New York City, and they were forbidden to dance together . . . until first a band and then a ballroom broke the rules. Machito and His Afro-Cubans hit the scene with a brand-new sound, blending jazz trumpets and saxophones with Latin maracas and congas creating Latin jazz, music for the head, the heart, and the hips. Then the Palladium Ballroom issued a bold challenge to segregation and threw open its doors to all. Illustrated with verve and told through real-life characters who feature in an afterword, Mambo mucho mambo! portrays the power of music and dance to transcend racial, religious, and ethnic boundaries.

Author: Dean Robbins
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 11/23/2021
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 11.40h x 9.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781536213355
Language: Spanish
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 08/01/2021 pg. 54
School Library Journal 10/01/2021 pg. 76

About the Author
Dean Robbins is the author of Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing; Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote; and Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, and a lifelong student of jazz. Dean Robbins lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Eric Velasquez is the award-winning illustrator of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, which received a Walter Dean Myers Award and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award. He has also won a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award and a Pura Belpré Illustrator Award. Eric Velasquez lives in Hartsdale, New York.