Bailar!/Let's Dance

"A bailar! There's music in the park today let's dance!" Marita and her mother are finishing their Saturday chores and anticipating Papi's salsa concert in the park that night, so Mami makes the broom her dance partner to show her daughter how to dance to the music.

That afternoon, they put on their best dresses and dancing shoes, and old Don Jos says they look like "dos lindas flores." He follows them slowly, "his cane tapping out a salsa beat on the sidewalk." The music floats in and out of the barrio's alleys, calling listeners to move. Soon Marita and her mother are leading a parade of neighbors and friends dancing and singing their way to the concert.

Judith Ortiz Cofer's lyrical text combining English and Spanish is complemented by Christina Ann Rodriguez's vibrant images of the neighborhood's unique characters reveling in the beat of the music. Families will delight in reading this warm, energetic look at one community's enjoyment of the sights and sounds of salsa music.