When Angels Sing

Name: When Angels Sing
ISBN: 9781534404137

The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana

Michael Mahin

Atheneum Books for Young Readers · Print & ebook · September 4, 2018

Winner of a Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor and a Robert F. Sibert Honor!

Musicians' Lives for Kids Hispanic & Latino Life (U.S.)Artists' Lives for Kids biography

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Who it’s for: A picture-book portrait of Carlos Santana’s search for a sound that could make angels real.
Themes: Musical creativity, Blending musical influences, Finding an artistic voice
Genres: Musicians' Lives for Kids, Hispanic & Latino Life (U.S.), Artists' Lives for Kids

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About this book

Winner of a Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor and a Robert F. Sibert Honor! Celebrate music icon Carlos Santana in this vibrant, rhythmic picture book from the author of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters. Carlos Santana loved to listen to his father play el violín. It was a sound that filled the world with magic and love and feeling and healing—a sound that made angels real. Carlos wanted to make angels real, too.

So he started playing music. Carlos tried el clarinete and el violín, but there were no angels. Then he picked up la guitarra. He took the soul of the Blues, the brains of Jazz, and the energy of Rock and Roll, and added the slow heat of Afro-Cuban drums and the cilantro-scented sway of the music he’d grown up with in Mexico. There were a lot of bands in San Francisco but none of them sounded like this. Had Carlos finally found the music that would make his angels real?

Finding His Sound

A picture-book portrait of Carlos Santana’s search for a sound that could make angels real.

Come here for

Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Afro-Cuban drums, and music rooted in Mexico
Music imagined as a source of feeling, healing, and wonder

Expect

A rhythmic account of Santana’s early musical search
A vivid blend of musical influences

Where it sits

Musicians' Lives for Kids	98%
Hispanic & Latino Life (U.S.)	39%
Artists' Lives for Kids	38%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

Musicians' Lives for Kids
Hispanic & Latino Life (U.S.)
20th Century U.S.

Authors: Michael Mahin
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: September 4, 2018
Format: Print & ebook
Theme: Musical creativity · Blending musical influences · Finding an artistic voice
Reading lane: Musicians' Lives for Kids