Grandma's Records

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read-This is one of the Best!
Review: When your eyes feast upon the frontispiece illustrations-before the story has even begun-you know you're into something good. Eric Velasquez serves up a sometimes dazzling, sometimes quiet, evocation of the magic of album covers, salsa music, and warm family love in this autobiographical reminiscence of his childhood in Spanish Harlem.

The pictures can be eye-popping dazzling; many times they are more serene one-panel set pieces. At all times, they accurately and richly convey emotion and setting. Here, the settings range from Grandma's house in El Barrio, to a brightly lit nightclub (both inside and out) in the Bronx, and even to young Eric's imagination.

The plot revolves around Eric and his grandmother, who met many of the best salsa players while growing up in Puerto Rico. The furnishings and her love of a few material objects suggest her relatively modest means: her record player and records. Without a trace of melodrama or contrivance, author/illustrator Velasquez shows music's importance to "Grandma":

"Sometimes," Grandma said, "a song can say everything that is in your heart as if it was written just for you."

She says this, covering her heart, and at the side, we see a picture of her and her husband long ago in Puerto Rico. There is joy as well. Listening to a meringue from the Dominican Republic, Grandma sways her hips, moves her arms, and generally loses herself in the rhythms. There's one shockingly good picture showing a somewhat older Eric drawing sketches based on album covers: "As I drew, I could see the record covers coming to life and the bands performing right there in Grandma's living room." Bright, angular, Picasso-like suggestions of musicians playing their instruments fill the page.

The narrative turns on an invitation from Grandma's band member friends (Rafael Cortijo "to bomba y plena what Duke Ellington was to jazz," Ishmael Rivera, and Sammy Ayala) to hear them at a nightclub. Grandma and Eric wear their best clothes, walk into the darkened theater, and begin to hear a conga beat "BOOM BAK BOOM BAK BOOM BAK. Then the lights came on with a loud BOOM, and the band began to play the song "El Bombom de Elena" ("Elena's Candy")." Eric and his Grandmother share a strong love for each other, bound, in part, by the riches of their shared music. "Even today," writes Velasquez, "I imagine I'm back in Grandma's living room and she turns to me and says, "You be the DJ today. Siempre me gusta tu selección." ("I always like your selection.")

First published in 1991, this is one of the best books for kids and adults I've read this year. By the way, Eric Velasquez received the Codetta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent for his illustrations in "The Piano Man." I recommend "Grandma's Records" with a sense of discovery and enthusiasm!