Susan Wood, writing formerly as Susan VanHecke, is the the author of RAGGIN' JAZZIN' ROCKIN'- A HISTORY OF AMERICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKERS (Boyds Mills Press, ALA Notable Children's Book) and UNDER THE FREEDOM TREE, as well as several books for adults. Susan lives in Norfolk, Virginia.
Much as Juan García Esquivel (1918–2002) made a great contribution
to music history, this title is an important addition to music
biography collections. Beginning with Tampico, Mexico, the text and
illustrations work together to showcase how a world filled with
sound influenced and inspired a young Esquivel and continued to do
so throughout his life. Esquivel is shown listening to “whirling”
mariachi bands, modifying a player piano to suit his own
compositions, experimenting with unusual instruments like the
theremin, and conducting musicians in unique and unprecedented
ways. The text explores how Esquivel’s love of sound led to new
ways of making music, most notably in his pioneering of stereo
sound and lounge music. Tonatiuh’s illustrations are lively and
colorful—-a perfect match for Esquivel’s personality and work.
Occasional blocks of text make this title best suited for upper
elementary students. Back matter includes an author’s note
expanding on Esquivel’s influence and an illustrator’s note on how
the art was created. A beautiful addition to music biography
collections for upper elementary students.
- School Library Journal, starred review
Wood and Tonatiuh combine to tell the story of a musician and
composer kids have likely never heard of. At 6, Juan García
Esquivel figured out how to disable the paper roll in his family's
player piano, leaving him free to experiment and learn how to play
the instrument himself. This spirit of experimentation never left
Juan, who went on to become a pioneer in a quirky, innovative style
of lounge music popular in the 1950s and '60s. Esquivel!, as he
became known, combined Latin rhythms, jazz, human voices, and
unusual instruments in order to create unique musical textures and
effects. During his career, Juan became popular in both Mexico and
the United States, and he wrote many songs for TV shows and movies.
The narrative presents the biographical facts of Juan's life in an
engaging and accessible manner. Young readers who have never before
heard of this musician may find their curiosity piqued. However, it
is Tonatiuh's illustrations that truly spark the imagination.
Tonatiuh employs his signature style of Mixtec codex-influenced
design, combines it with playful tributes to the fashion and style
of the 1960s, sprinkles in text blocks of onomatopoeia that seem to
vibrate on the page, and fills in the empty areas with a watery mix
of purples and blues that perfectly complements the spacey style
expressed in the music. A lively introduction to a somewhat obscure
and profoundly innovative musical figure.
- Kirkus Reviews
Juan Garcia Esquivel created out-of-this-world sounds, and Wood
(formerly VanHecke) and Tonatiuh capture the fascinating story of
Esquivel's musical talent in this picture-book biography. Esquivel
was a young boy in Tampico, Mexico, when he discovered his love for
music. He taught himself to play the piano, and before he knew it
he was conducting orchestras and composing music. Esquivel is
revered for his innovative sounds that were said to transport
listeners to other worlds. His music was so popular that his fans
donned him Esquivel!--with an exclamation point! Wood's story
provides insight to the making of a magnificent musician and
incorporates enough sound effects (wheedy-whee!, blap!, bowm-bowm!)
to make Esquivel proud. Energetic collage illustrations complement
the text by allowing readers to see Esquivel's sounds and his love
for music. Sibert Award winner Tonatiuh (Funny Bones, 2015) draws
in his well-known style inspired by the Mixtec codex, where
characters are represented in profile. Back matter includes an
author's note with supplementary information on Esquivel's life, an
illustrator's note on the artwork, and additional resources.
- Booklist
Written by Susan Wood
Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh
Charlesbridge
Category: Juvenile Nonfiction - Biography & Autobiography - Music;
Juvenile Nonfiction - People & Places - United States - Hispanic &
Latino Format: Hardcover, 32 pages On Sale Date: September 2016
Price US: $17.95 ISBN: 9781580896733
Also available as an eBook and an eBook.
Reviews...
Much as Juan García Esquivel (1918–2002) made a great contribution
to music history, this title is an important addition to music
biography collections. Beginning with Tampico, Mexico, the text and
illustrations work together to showcase how a world filled with
sound influenced and inspired a young Esquivel and continued to do
so throughout his life. Esquivel is shown listening to “whirling”
mariachi bands, modifying a player piano to suit his own
compositions, experimenting with unusual instruments like the
theremin, and conducting musicians in unique and unprecedented
ways. The text explores how Esquivel’s love of sound led to new
ways of making music, most notably in his pioneering of stereo
sound and lounge music. Tonatiuh’s illustrations are lively and
colorful—-a perfect match for Esquivel’s personality and work.
Occasional blocks of text make this title best suited for upper
elementary students. Back matter includes an author’s note
expanding on Esquivel’s influence and an illustrator’s note on how
the art was created. A beautiful addition to music biography
collections for upper elementary students.
- School Library Journal, starred review
Wood and Tonatiuh combine to tell the story of a musician and
composer kids have likely never heard of. At 6, Juan García
Esquivel figured out how to disable the paper roll in his family's
player piano, leaving him free to experiment and learn how to play
the instrument himself. This spirit of experimentation never left
Juan, who went on to become a pioneer in a quirky, innovative style
of lounge music popular in the 1950s and '60s. Esquivel!, as he
became known, combined Latin rhythms, jazz, human voices, and
unusual instruments in order to create unique musical textures and
effects. During his career, Juan became popular in both Mexico and
the United States, and he wrote many songs for TV shows and movies.
The narrative presents the biographical facts of Juan's life in an
engaging and accessible manner. Young readers who have never before
heard of this musician may find their curiosity piqued. However, it
is Tonatiuh's illustrations that truly spark the imagination.
Tonatiuh employs his signature style of Mixtec codex-influenced
design, combines it with playful tributes to the fashion and style
of the 1960s, sprinkles in text blocks of onomatopoeia that seem to
vibrate on the page, and fills in the empty areas with a watery mix
of purples and blues that perfectly complements the spacey style
expressed in the music. A lively introduction to a somewhat obscure
and profoundly innovative musical figure.
- Kirkus Reviews
Juan Garcia Esquivel created out-of-this-world sounds, and Wood
(formerly VanHecke) and Tonatiuh capture the fascinating story of
Esquivel's musical talent in this picture-book biography. Esquivel
was a young boy in Tampico, Mexico, when he discovered his love for
music. He taught himself to play the piano, and before he knew it
he was conducting orchestras and composing music. Esquivel is
revered for his innovative sounds that were said to transport
listeners to other worlds. His music was so popular that his fans
donned him Esquivel!--with an exclamation point! Wood's story
provides insight to the making of a magnificent musician and
incorporates enough sound effects (wheedy-whee!, blap!, bowm-bowm!)
to make Esquivel proud. Energetic collage illustrations complement
the text by allowing readers to see Esquivel's sounds and his love
for music. Sibert Award winner Tonatiuh (Funny Bones, 2015) draws
in his well-known style inspired by the Mixtec codex, where
characters are represented in profile. Back matter includes an
author's note with supplementary information on Esquivel's life, an
illustrator's note on the artwork, and additional resources.
- Booklist
Wood (Under the Freedom Tree) and Tonatiuh (Funny Bones) team up to
recount the life of Juan Garcia Esquivel (1918-2002), who grew up
with music in Mexico, "where whirling mariachi bands let out joyful
yells as they stamped and strummed," and made it his life's work as
a bandleader and composer. Tonatiuh's Mexican-art-inspired collages
translate smoothly to the 1950s and '60s, when Esquivel was at the
height of his creative output, creating lounge music using newly
developed stereo recording technology. Wood's straightforward
narration moves readers briskly through the musician's life, and
her descriptions of the sounds he developed ("like a crazy rocket
ride zigzagging through outer space") should lead many of them to
seek out recordings of his work. It's a welcome tribute to an
underrated figure in 20th century music. A Spanish-language edition
is available simultaneously.
- Publishers Weekly
A kid’s got to be careful in admitting a taste for grandparents’
music. Mick Jagger is acceptable, and Aretha Franklin’s not too
embarrassing—and as Wood and Tonatiuh demonstrate in this
picture-book biography, being part of Juan Garcia Esquivel fandom
could be insanely cool. An autodidact at the piano, Esquivel had
landed a modest piano gig on a Mexico City radio station by age
fourteen and led a radio orchestra by age seventeen. With a keen
ear attuned to urban soundscapes, he played fast and loose with
popular Mexican tunes, lacing them with a kind of instrumental take
on vocal scat that made him a recording star in both Mexico and the
United States. Wood describes not only the quirkiness of his
instrumentation but also how Esquivel arrived on the scene just in
time to take advantage of new recording techniques and stereophonic
sound separation, and how he was able to make a home in a range of
sonic media, from Las Vegas stage shows, to television and movies,
and of course, vinyl. That’s all well and good, but for kids who
haven’t heard Esquivel, they’ll need more incentive, and Wood
brings it. Her closing note focuses on the 1990s resurgence of
interest in Esquivel’s recordings, which segues happily into the
current rediscovery of the pleasures of vinyl. Tonatiuh reprises
the Maya-influenced style audiences may recognize from Funny Bones:
Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras (BCCB 10/15), but he
infuses its formality with some freewheeling text and swirling
motif design suggestive of Sean Qualls. The Resources page tosses
in a couple of quotation credits and adult print references but
concentrates on websites of Esquivel interviews and YouTube
performances virtually guaranteed to secure the late orchestra
leader a fresh following. Let the downloads begin.
- BCCB
Growing up in Mexico, Juan Garcia Esquivel got an earful of
mariachi, but he wanted to create his own sound. Self-taught and
persistent, he was playing piano at a radio station at fourteen and
leading an orchestra for a radio comedy show at seventeen. His
sound was so infectious that word traveled to the United States; a
record company invited him to New York, which led to international
success. Esquivel's rewardingly strange instrumentals and his
innovations in stereo sound would come to define
mid-twentieth-century lounge music. There's not much personal
information here--one must turn to the author's note to learn that
Esquivel died in 2002--but the story of his professional rise is
told with pep and a keen awareness of how to best explain
Esquivel's skills to young readers ("When the radio comedian needed
music for a skit about, say, a stout man walking his tiny poodle
down a busy city street, Juan had to imagine what that might sound
like"). Illustrator Tonatiuh (The Princess and the Warrior, rev.
9/16), once again working within the tradition of the
fourteenth-and fifteenth-century Mixtec codex, takes a fittingly
offbeat approach to portraying the very modern Esquivel, whose
music, as Wood puts it, "sounded like a crazy rocket ride
zigzagging through outer space." Appended with source notes and
lists of assorted resources.
- The Horn Book Magazine
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