by Margarita Engle (Author), Rafael Lopez (Illustrator)
As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too--the Civil War.
Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa's music bring comfort to those who needed it most?
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln
Margarita Engle was the 2017--2019 national Young People's Poet Laureate, and received the 2019 NSK Neustadt Prize. She is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, including Soaring Earth; With a Star in My Hand; The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor winner; and The Lightning Dreamer, a PEN Literary Award for Young Adult Literature winner. Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother's homeland during childhood summers with relatives. She continues to visit Cuba as often as she can.
Rafael López was born and raised in Mexico, a place that has always influenced the vivid colors and shapes in his artwork. He now creates community-based mural projects around the world and illustrates acclaimed children's books including The Day You Begin, Bravo!, Drum Dream Girl, We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands, Book Fiesta!, and Dancing Hands. Rafael divides his time between Mexico and California.ISBN: 9781481487405
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Binding: Hardcover
Pub Date: August 27, 2019Target Age Group: 04 to 08
Pages: 40
-Picture books -Carreano, Teresa
-Lincoln, Abraham -Pianists
-Women pianisists -United States