Sing, Don't Cry

Henry Holt and Company
(pub. 8.22.2017)

40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor and illustrator: Angela Dominguez

C haracter: Apolinar Navarrete

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Once a year, Abuelo comes from Mexico to visit his family. He brings his guitar, his music - and his memories.
     In this story inspired by the life of Apolinar Navarrete Diaz - author Angela Dominguez's grandfather and a successful mariachi musician - Abuelo and his grandchildren sing through the bad times and the good. Lifting their voices and their spirits, they realize that true happiness comes from singing together.

T antalizing taste: 
      

     "'Sing, don't cry, even when you are alone in a big city.'
       'Because singing can attract someone to sing with you.'
       'When you are misunderstood, and when people are unkind,
 remember - sing, don't cry, even if it is only in your soul.'
       And always,' Abuelo told us, 'I will be singing with you.'"

 

and something more:  The Author's Note explains that "Sing, Don't Cry is inspired by the refrain in 'Cielito lindo,' a popular Mexican song."  Angela Dominguez writes that her grandfather "was born in 1916. As a young boy, Apolinar and his family emigrated from the small town of Amealco, Querataro, to Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution. When he lost his leg in a bus accident at the age of nine, he turned to music, learning the guitar...Through it all, he was an extremely optimistic man who loved to share music and life with his loved ones."  The endpapers of the book include some wonderful family photos.