Queen of Tejano Music: Selena
Silvia López
(Author)
Paola Escobar
(Illustrator)
Description
This moving and impassioned picture book about the iconic Queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla, that will embolden young readers to find their passion and make the impossible, possible! Selena Quintanilla's music career began at the age of nine when she started singing in her family's band. She went from using a hairbrush as a microphone to traveling from town to town to play gigs. But Selena faced a challenge: People said that she would never make it in Tejano music, which was dominated by male performers. Selena was determined to prove them wrong. Born and raised in Texas, Selena didn't know how to speak Spanish, but with the help of her dad, she learned to sing it. With songs written and composed by her older brother and the fun dance steps Selena created, her band, Selena Y Los Dinos, rose to stardom! A true trailblazer, her success in Tejano music and her crossover into mainstream American music opened the door for other Latinx entertainers, and she became an inspiration for Latina girls everywhere.
Product Details
Price
$18.99
$17.66
Publisher
Little Bee Books
Publish Date
August 25, 2020
Pages
48
Dimensions
8.2 X 9.8 X 0.5 inches | 0.88 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781499811421
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Silvia López, a Cuban native raised in Miami, Florida, served as a children's librarian at schools and public libraries for over three decades. She holds degrees in English, Library Science, and Educational Technology, and is a National Board-Certified Teacher. Her picture book, Just Right Family: An Adoption Story, was released in March 2018. She had previously published children's biographies, as well as award-winning bilingual digital books. Her book, Handimals: Animals in Art and Nature, a collaboration with Italian artist Guido Daniele, was published in April 2019. Another picture book, Pacho, is scheduled for release in 2020. Paola Escobar is a Colombian graphic designer and illustrator. She has worked for a variety of publishers, including Oxford University Press, Penguin Random House, Scholastic UK, Laurence King, HarperCollins, and Little, Brown Book Group; as well as a broad range of print and digital magazines. She currently works as a freelance illustrator and lives very happily in Bogota, Colombia, with her husband and dog, Flora.
Reviews
Nearly 25 years after her death, the musical origin and cultural impact of Mexican American performer Selena Quintanilla are celebrated. The story of Selena, as the singer and songwriter is still known, has been told before but not for so young an audience. López splits the difference between a fawning tribute and a straightforward recounting of accomplishments by working hard to paint the picture of the artist's childhood and what led to her musical achievements. Amid Escobar's exceptionally detailed illustrative work, it's made clear how both the Quintanilla family's immersion in music and Selena's enduring work ethic led to her band's success. There's a lot of text in the book, but it's smartly framed within two-page spreads, and very little of it feels extraneous. Fans new to Selena's work may be surprised to learn that she was not a native speaker when she began performing in Spanish and that early in her career, sexism within the Tejano tradition was an issue. The artwork captures clothing and home furnishings of the time, such as Selena's cassette tapes, her father's guayabera shirts, and the singer's iconic stage costumes. Not surprisingly, there's not much dwelling on the circumstances of the singer's murder other than an explainer page and a mention in a timeline in the backmatter, which also offers other cultural context.A worthy picture-book primer on the Queen of Tejano music. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)--Kirkus Reviews
