Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played Piano For President Lincoln

 

Book: Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played The Piano For President Lincoln 

Author: Margarita Engle 

Illustrator: Rafael Lopez

Genre: Biography 

Awards: Pura Belpre Award

Age Group: Pre-k - 3 

Summary: 

Teresa grew up in a home of music. Making music could be hark work, but she practiced and struggled and through it all,  the music cheered her on sad days and on good days, helped her share her joyfulness. However, a war at home causes her and her family to pack up and move to New York; a brand new world in which she knew no one, where many didn't speak Spanish, and was forced into a another war- the civil war. Despite all this, Teresa still continued to play and soon began showing up in newspapers, performed with great orchestras, and soon became known as the Piano Girl. She traveled everywhere until one day, President Lincoln asks her to play for him in the White House. With the war still ranging on and with the recent death of the president's youngest son, Teresa worried about how her music could soothe his troubles. Overcoming her doubts, Teresa played and her dancing hands was able to provide the comfort and beautifulness needed to soothe everyone's troubles. 

Evaluation and Comments:

Dancing Hands is a beautiful book whose illustrations help tell the story of the Piano Girl, Maria Teresa Carreño Garcia de Sena. Through this book, we are able to visually see the beauty music had on her world, the hardships she had to go through, and how even in times of doubt, music was always there to make it better. 

The short, concise paragraphs paired with the emotion-filled illustrations would be best for younger students. Teresa Carreño lived such an aspiring and eventful life that it will surely catch the attention and inspire many students. This is also a great book to use when introducing biographies to students. After the reading, they could create their own version of Teresa Carreño's life or they could write their own biography. Also, since this book is heavily focused around music, you could play different songs and have students discuss what type of emotions they feel while listening. 

In conclusion, Dancing Hands has my seal of approval! 🥇😄