Under the Mambo Moon

On summer nights Marisol helps out in Papi's music store. As customers come and go, they share memories of the Latin music and dance of their various homelands, expressed in a dazzling array of poetry. The diversity of Latin American music is brought to life in poems that swivel, sway, and sizzle with the rhythms of merengue, vallenatos, salsa, and samba.

Back matter includes a map, author's note, and further information about the musical heritage of Latin America.Julia Durango is the author of the bilingual picture book PETER CLAVER: PATRON SAINTS OF SLAVES (Simon & Schuster), as well as co-author of YUM! YUCK! She lives with her family in Ottawa, Illinois.On summer nights
Papi lets me help out 
at the music store. 


Papi says you can 
read people’s souls 
by the music
 they listen to; 
that hearts
fly home
when the music’s 
Just Right.


Papi says
people come here 
to buy dreams 
and memories.


Mrs. García
gets off at the bus stop
in front of the store.
She walks slowly,
one hand on her back,
 trying to push away an ache. 
She’s been cleaning houses 
all day,
but still she smiles
and stops to talk.


João hangs out by the door 
pretending not to watch 
the girls go by.
“A boy that handsome 
can only be trouble,”
Mrs. García says.
João likes to talk music 
with Papi.


Mrs. García


On the day of my quinceañera, 
I wore a gown
of blushing pink
and a gold tiara.

The tiny rosebuds on my cake 
matched the real ones
in my bouquet,
and my gifts reached the ceiling.

A handsome mariachi band 
played all afternoon
and serenaded me with
“Las mañanitas.”


On the day of my quinceañera, 
I was in Mariachi Heaven.

João

A girl from Ipanema
(no one ever knew her name) 
caught the eye of a composer 
who would never be the same.

“She’s a little bit of samba,
with a pinch of jazz thrown in.
 She’s the strum of my violão—
such a girl there’s never been.”

Then he wrote a brand-new song 
for the girl without a name, 
who strolled along the beach 
and brought the bossa nova fame.