Eloísa’s Musical Window
by Margarita Engle; illus. by John Parra
Primary    Atheneum    40 pp.
8/24    9781665935289    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781665935296    $10.99
Spanish ed.  9781665960779    $18.99

“Sometimes it felt like the whole world was a parade, performing right outside Eloísa’s musical window.” Eloísa is grateful for la música—usually consisting of a neighbor’s radio and other sounds from the street—and the cheer it brings in this picture book set in a historical Cuba. Her mother is sick, and the only treatment the doctor recommends is “soup, soup, and more soup.” When an impromptu live band forms outside the window one day, Eloísa’s mother suddenly feels strong enough to walk outside cautiously to listen to the growing fiesta. Engle’s lyrical text describes noises from the neighborhood animals and the traditional Cuban instruments the musicians play. Parra’s (illustrator of Spanish Is the Language of My Family, rev. 7/23) distinctive hand-painted and digitally collaged art features characters with different skin tones and uses a pleasantly washed-out palette for backgrounds. Music is represented by floating notes as well as blue and red ­ribbons and starbursts (perhaps a nod to the Cuban flag). An author’s note provides some much-needed context about the real-life experience with illness that inspired the story; a glossary of Cuban instruments is also appended. Concurrently published in Spanish as Eloísa y su ventanita musical.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.