Mama Does the Mambo

Sofia loved to watch the magic of her parents dancing. However, when Sofia’s father dies, Mama not only loses her dance partner but also stops dancing altogether. As Carnival season approaches, the neighbors urge Sofia to help Mama find a new dance partner. Although suitors come from all around to petition their cases, Mama’s heart doesn’t seem to be in it. Nonetheless, at Carnival, Mama demonstrates to all that she has not permanently lost the dance in her spirit and does the Mambo again. Rodriguez’s use of pastel, gouache, and spray paint with woodblock-ink linework beautifully complement and extend this tale of grief and healing. Employing a color palette centered around orange and red reflects the passion for music, dancing, and Papa that mother and daughter share. At the secondary level, Mama Does the Mambo could serve as an easily accessible exemplar of dynamic characterization and the characteristics of the hero cycle explained by Peter R. Stillman in Introduction to Myth.

Mama Does the Mambo by Katherine Leiner; illus. by Edel Rodriguez
Primary
Hyperion Books for Children
40 pp.
Published 2001
ISBN 978-0-7868-0646-1
$15.99

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