The author describes his boyhood summers spent at his grandmother’s apartment in Spanish Harlem where she intoduced him to the sounds and steps of the merengue and the conga and told him stories of Puerto Rico.
- ISBN: 9780802787606
- Author: Velasquez, Eric
- Published: 2001 , Walker & Company
- Themes: Family life, Grandmother, growing up, Puerto Rico
- Descriptors: Biography - Autobiography- Memoir, Latinx in US, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9), United States
- No. of pages: 32
Every summer, Eric visits his Puerto Rican grandmother in Spanish Harlem. Listening to conga beats infused in Salsa records, Eric learns to build a love and appreciate for Salsa music. With one hand over the hear and two-stepping side to side to a blend of African, Latin, and Jazz rhythms, Eric realizes the purpose behind the song his grandmother loves so much. The author shares a simple story that builds a bridge between the cultural practices that are specifically found in El Barrio and memories about family and their motherland that many Latinos leave behind once entering the U.S.