Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

¡Tum Tica! ¡Tum Tica! The dancers twirled, the lights swirled, and the mambo went on and on. Like so many of Brown's biographies, such as Waiting for the Biblioburro (2011) and Side by Side/Lado a lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez (2009), Tito's story introduces readers to a vibrant Latino figure. As a baby, Puente made music with pots and pans, and he later grew up to fulfill his dreams as a musician and beloved bandleader. Award-winning illustrator Lopez brings Tito's story to life in vibrant acrylic salsa reds and oranges, which are splashed behind every shake of Tito's hips and wink of his eyes. The swirling, whirling compositions add to the text's rhythmic beat. To continue the rumba after Tito's story has ended, the last page of the book offers a simple melody to play on its own or alongside the book. An author's note (in both English and Spanish) sheds more light on Puente's life.--Zapata, Angie Copyright 2010 Booklist

School Library Journal
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K-Gr 2-From Spanish Harlem to the Grammy's, the larger-than-life Latin Jazz icon overcame obstacles and inspired many. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
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As Brown explains, Tito Puente (1923-2000) made music his entire life, from banging "spoons and forks on pots and pans, windowsills and cans," to learning the saxophone while serving in the Navy during WWII, studying at Juilliard, and leading the big band that carried his name. Brown's bilingual text echoes the rhythms of salsa, mambo, and jazz ("The claves smacked clackity clackity clack clack"), yet feels somewhat subdued next to Lopez's sizzling acrylics, which have a weathered, mural-like quality but are anything but flat. Ages 4-8. Agent: Stefanie Von Borstel, Full Circle Literary. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Brown and Lpez, who previously teamed for the award-winning My Name Is Celia (2004), collaborate anew in this energetic bilingual tribute to the salsa drummer and band leader extraordinaire. Brown's narrative, simply phrased and peppered with exclamation points, takes her preschool and primary audience from Tito's toddlerhood, banging "spoons and forks on pots and pans," through childhood loves: drum lessons, dancing and stickball on the streets of Harlem. Bouncing through the musician's adulthood, Brown highlights early gigs, a Navy stint (where he learned to play sax) and regular shows at the Palladium in New York City. Puente's dream of heading his own band comes true in a single page turn (though Lpez's depiction of the now white-haired drummer does attest to time's passage). A percussive refrain, fun to read and hear, pops up as part of the Spanish text but resonates in either language: "Tum Tica! / Tac Tic! / Tum Tic! / Tom Tom!" Lpez's pictures, layered acrylics on prepared wooden boards, convey salsa's rhythmic exuberance via a riotous palette that includes electric orange, chocolate brown, pale teal, and touches of pink and purple. Multihued swirls and plumes emanate from Tito's timbales and drumsticks; Celia Cruz (a frequent collaborator) soars in a costume whose fuchsia feathers seem to morph from the sea green waves below. A vibrant, reverent celebration of the godfather of salsa. (biographical note; brief musical notation for rumba beat included in the text) (Bilingual picture book/biography. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A bilingual picture book charts the life of Tito Puente with all the exuberance of the drummer and bandleader's irresistible music. Vibrant imagery hums right off the page, full of high-contrast color and energetic composition, and decorated with swirling, starry embellishments. The treatment is not especially deep and is decidedly positive: Tito's life reads like a sequence of successes. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.