Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln

By Margarita Engle

Book Overview

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2019

In soaring words and stunning illustrations, Margarita Engle and Rafael L pez tell the story of Teresa Carre o, a child prodigy who played piano for Abraham Lincoln.

As a little girl, Teresa Carre o loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too--the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa's music bring comfort to those who needed it most?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 148148740X
• ISBN13: 9781481487405
• Release Date: August 2019
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.9" x 10.6"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A Gem

This wonderful biography tells the story of an incredible immigrant child with an amazing gift for music. In a lovely vignette, she plays for a President consumed with the cares of war time and brings him some joy. A wonderful read aloud and great addition to women’s history month resources, as well as a superb example of how immigrants enrich our country.