• Age: 4 to 7
• Grade: p to 2

Adela loves everything about her family's mariachi band--except that she isn't in it!
Shining a spotlight on Mexican music, full of instruments and dancing, Adela’s Mariachi Band is sure to be a hit!

Adela wants nothing more than to be a part of her family's mariachi band, but when she tries the different instruments, everything comes out wrong. La trompeta fizzles, la vihuela squeaks, and trying to dance makes Adela fall on her face. From watching her family, Adela knows that practice makes perfect, but can she find a way to be part of the band in the meantime?

A new go-to read-aloud favorite that comes complete with funny instrument sounds, a rhythmic text, and Spanish vocabulary. Strike up the band!

♦ "[An] affirming reminder that age and size needn't be a barrier to following a passion."
—Shelf Awareness, starred review

Denise Vega's profile page

ERIKA RODRIGUEZ MEDINA is an art teacher and illustrator, currently living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. Comfortable with both traditional and digital media, she prefers organic shapes and natural-looking textures, which will find their way in everything she makes. If asked, Erika will tell you that her favorite things to illustrate are expressive characters, grumpy children, and subjects related to plants and nature.

Erika Rodriguez Medina's profile page

♦ A child yearns to join her family's mariachi band in the colorful, jubilant picture book Adela's Mariachi Band by Denise Vega (If Your Monster Won't Go to Bed) and illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina (And J.J. Slept).
Adela, a broad-faced girl with winsome dark eyes, brown skin, and a middle-parted ponytail, "loves everything about her family's mariachi band--except the fact that she isn't in it." Papá's trompeta only makes a "small, fizzly" sound when Adela plays it. Her tío's vihuela only squeaks for her. Her graceful mamá and sisters can make their folklórico skirts "flow like rainbows," but Adela's dance ends in a face-plant: "SPLAT!" Each failure is announced by Adela with a tiny, plaintive "oy," "iiieee," or "ahh," copies of her tía Evelyn's massive, soulful gritos ("shouts"). Adela realizes as she sits mournfully amid crayon-scribble recollections of her attempts that every skill in the band will take a long time to perfect. Her exclusion seems certain until Adela realizes she can do one thing, after all. At the end of the next show, Evelyn stands back, Papá places his hat on Adela's head, and she joyously shouts los gritos.
Culture and tradition take center stage as Adela struggles to find her niche, always surrounded and supported by the warm circle of her family. Vega's punchy voice and Medina's lively digital illustrations combine for an affirming reminder that age and size needn't be a barrier to following a passion. Backmatter includes an author's note on Vega's family history of mariachi music and a shortlist of web resources for the intrigued reader.
—Shelf Awareness, starred review

Adela loves everything about her family’s mariachi band (“how the music skips and bounces.... how her family dances and claps”)—except “the fact that she isn’t in it.” But her early attempts at playing various instruments and joining the dancers quickly reveal that becoming proficient will take a long time (“When Papá plays la trompeta, big, beautiful sounds burst out.... When Adela tries it, a small, fizzly sound dribbles out,” Vega writes). Frustrated with her attempts, Adela makes a drawing of beloved mariachi elements that presages her own participation. Rodriguez Medina’s warm-toned digital illustrations offer texture and depth to a story that conveys one child’s early attempts at being part of something she loves. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note and sources conclude. Ages 4–7.
—Publishers Weekly

This is a fun and colorful book about the art of mariachi music in Mexico. The pictures are very colorful pencil drawings that illustrate mariachi culture. This is written by Denise Vega whose father and grandfather were in a mariachi group. She grew up listening to them play this music. The book goes through many facets of playing in a mariachi band. Adela hears the trumpet play, the vihuela (Spanish string instrument similar to a guitar) sing, and the violin strings soar. She watches her mother and sisters dance to the music, their long colorful skirts twirling in the air. Written for young children, this is a great way to introduce the art form to them, and then pair it with a video of musicians and dancers playing and dancing to this music. Great book to use for Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations in September, and as part of a unit on Mexican culture any other time of the year as well.
—Children's Literature