HALLOWEEN WEEK! SOFI AND THE MAGIC, MUSICAL MURAL / SOFI Y EL MAGICO MURAL MUSICAL BY RAQUEL M. ORTIZ

It's Halloween Week and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

The Latina Book Club is proud to bring you

books that will scare you and make your heart race.  

So Be Brave and Happy Reading.

Arte Publico Press

I love graffiti art, especially large, colorful murals that depict fun communal scenes.  I found a lot of these in Harlem, and so many more during my recent trip to San Juan. 

SOFI AND THE MAGIC, MUSICAL brings these murals to mind and to life.  The book is full of vibrant pictures and enchanting narrative, and I love that it is bilingual.  Readers will be delighted and amazed.  I am, and I am thinking of buying extra hard copies for my nieces and nephews in New York and on the island.

SUMMARY:  When Sofi walks through her barrio to the local store, she always passes a huge mural with images from Puerto Rico: musicians, dancers, tropical flowers and her least favorite avejigante, a character from carnival that wears a scary mask. 

One day on her way home from the bodega, she stops in front of the mural. Is one of the dancers inviting her to be his partner? "Okay, let’s dance," Sofi giggles, and suddenly she’s in Old San Juan, surrounded by dancers and musicians playing bongos, tambourines andgüiros. She begins to dance and sing with her new friends, but her pleasure turns to fear when the vejigante wearing a black jumper with yellow fringe and a red, three-horned mask spins her around and around! What does he want from her? How can she get away? 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  SOFI AND THE MAGIC, MUSICAL MURAL / SOFI Y EL MAGICO MURAL MUSICAL is Dr. Raquel Ortiz’s debut novel.  It was illustrated by Maria Dominguez.