Oye, Celia!

by Katie Sciurba, Edel Rodriguez (Illustrations)

A celebration of Celia Cruz, the legendary Queen of Salsa A little girl carries her favorite record with her to an impromptu neighborhood dance party and calls out for her favorite singer. "Oye, Celia!" she shouts. And as she dances she tells Celia what she hears in her singing--loss, passion, sadness, happiness, history, and more. Oye, Celia! is a beautiful, rhythmic tribute to the Queen of Salsa--Celia Cruz. The personal telling, in a blend of English and Spanish, and the marvelously expressive illustrations will make this book irresistible to Celia's many fans and even to those who aren't familiar with her music. Oye, Celia! is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Music, Biography, Picture Books, Latinx, Latin American

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl travels through time with her favorite Celia Cruz album. As she walks about she recalls everything she loves about Celia Cruz and how it resonates with her. She takes pride in the culture that her and Celia share. This is a great book and can be used universally as the Spanish words that are used are easy for students to learn and remember whether or not they speak the language. This would be a great read aloud for small children.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one thing that I think is lacking is plot. That being said, I like the illustrations and the Spanish used. This book speaks of different parts of Cuban culture. In the back, it includes descriptions of the Spanish words and taught me about a style of dance that I didn't know called guaguanco. I grew up dancing but I haven't tried many of the different types of Latin dancing. I have experienced a few. If you are from Cuba and came to the U.S., you may really identify with the singer Celia Cruz as the illustrator does. I liked the figurative language. This seems like a book people might sing instead of speak.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. The sprinkling of Spanish, the rhythm of the words, the illustrations. Easily one of my new favorite children's books. Makes you sign it as you are reading it out loud.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Juliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book to be used with Hispanic culture and music, specifically Celia Cruz.

Plot line: Average. There is very little plot. A girl goes around carrying her favorite record calling for Celia to sing. While she listens to the music, the little girl talks about how Celia's music makes her feel.

Author: Excellent. The author is writing about a singer that she feels very close to.

Illustrations: Excellent. Variations in skin tone, hair, hair styles, and facial features. Also variations in clothes.

Text Accuracy: Excellent. Culture represented is clear. Words and phrases represent the culture as well as the person the book is about. A nice glossary in the back helps explain the Spanish words used in the book.

Perfect book to use in class not only for Celia Cruz's music, but the text also discusses flamenco, guaguanco, rumba, and la salsa which would lead into the listening to the music and possibly learning the dance steps to these dances.

[Jenny Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Age:
Grades K-3

Genre:
fiction; bilingual-Spanish

Diversity:
Latino-American

Illustrations:
Illustrations were created with acrylics, spray-paint, pastels, and oil-based ink.

Personal response:
I really loved the rhythm in this book. The words were so fluid, they could probably be sung as a song. The repition of phrases and the use of Spanish words really make this a good book to read aloud to younger children. I also liked the glossary of terms author's note about her true experience with the "Queen of Salsa", Celia Cruz.

Curricular or programming connections:
This book would be good for bilingual Spanish lesson or social studies lesson to explore Latino cultures.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a really good book for the younger students. There are great non-fiction books about well know people, but this story book is a great way to teach students about this amazing singer. She influenced her community in great ways.

This would be an ideal book for the month of March, which is Women's History Month. We could even use this for the older kids and have them read a children's book on a famous woman. The words and illustration in this book definitely sing to you as if the words just jumped off the page. I really enjoyed it and found it to be an inspiring book.

[Esther Choi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the life and music of the Latin American singer, Celia Cruz. In the story, a young girl goes to a neighborhood party and hears the moving music of Celia Cruz that is full of emotion and prose. The tone in the book feels like a song. This poetic book includes sound sensory words, spanish words (with glossary in the back), and repetition. This would be a good book to use to integrate Latin American culture into the classroom

Reading Level: Grades 3-5 (ages 9-12)
Genre: Biography
Themes: loss, happiness, Latin American culture

[Blessy Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book is a tribute to Celia Cruz, the famous Salsa Dancer. It is very poetic and the short descriptions evoke a simple Latin rhythm for young readers. The language is engaging, and the illustrations add a deeper meaning to the story as well. Children will be ready to embrace another musical culture.

[T. Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book were absolutely pulsating- they made me want to drop the book and dance. I also am very interested in learning more about Celia Cruz, and plan on ordering some of her music. The author makes a candid statement that her songs remind her of those that were lost in slavery, a tribute to their ancestors... Definitely worth reading.

[L11-Mary Utterback · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave great insight into the life of Celia Cruz. This book is for grades 1-4. I can see myself reading this book aloud because the words are almost song across the pages. The author provides us with a page of translations and a history of Celia herself. I really enjoyed the illustration. The artist captured the cuban spirit through the movement of the characters.

[McKayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the culture aspect of this. This would be great to use to introduce the Hispanic culture to students.

[Lauren Moses · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I thought this book was good I also felt it lacked content. It was extremely short with very few words on each page. The book is about a young girl who by listening to Celia Cruz’s music feels the way Celia feels while singing. Celia’s music makes her open up to a bunch of different emotions as she listens. The narrator views Celia as an iconic character someone she can look up to and someone who she can relate to. The narrator explains how the music gives life to all the things that having meaning in her life like Cuba, and Mexico. The author wrote this book before she witnessed Celia in concert. During the concert she wished she could jump up and have Celia read it so she could see how much her music meant to others. This is a multicultural book written with Spanish influence. I thought it was helpful that all Spanish words used were given a translation in the back of the book. This took all readers into consideration so they all knew what the words meant.