(3) K-3 This picture-book biography tells the story of Mercedes Sosa, popular folklore Argentino singer and activist. Pérez-Prado uses accessible, lyrical prose and includes difficult details about Sosa’s life and the time period during which she performed, including her years of exile in Spain and a brief, age-appropriate history of los desaparecidos. Digital collage illustrations incorporate visual metaphors to emphasize Sosa’s culture, including her Indigenous roots. An afterword providing further historical context and bibliography are appended.

Reviewer:

(3) K-3 Fernández Nitsche follows the life of iconic Argentinian folk singer and social activist Mercedes Sosa (1935–2009), from her humble working-class upbringing to her enduring posthumous legacy as a “voice of the voiceless.” Readers learn about Sosa’s off-the-cuff first public performance at the age of fifteen; her evolution from timorous greenhorn to world-renowned, powerhouse songstress; and her musical innovation. On spreads portraying age-appropriate scenes of protest and dictatorship, Sosa’s human rights advocacy is recognized, courageous work that led to her imprisonment, exile, and eventual status as a national and Latin American hero. Readers may be left wanting to know what enabled Sosa’s triumphant repatriation. Back matter includes a biographical timeline, a glossary of Spanish words used in the text, and a playlist of the author’s favorite Sosa songs. A fitting tribute to a cultural lodestar.

Reviewer: Summer Edward