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DEAN RO B B I N S
IL LUSTRATE D BY
ERIC VE L ASQU EZ

New York City’s desegregated

Palladium Ballroom springs to life
with a diverse 1940s cast in this jazzy
picture-book tribute to the history
of mambo and Latin jazz.
Millie danced to jazz in her Italian neighborhood. Pedro danced
to Latin songs in his Puerto Rican neighborhood. It was the 1940s
in New York City, and they were forbidden to dance together . . .
until first a band and then a ballroom broke the rules. Machito
and His Afro-Cubans hit the scene with a brand-new sound,
blending jazz trumpets and saxophones with Latin maracas and
congas to create Latin jazz, music for the head, the heart, and
the hips. Then the Palladium Ballroom issued a bold challenge
to segregation and threw open its doors to all. Illustrated with
verve and told through real-life characters who feature in an ON SALE OCTOBER 5, 2021
afterword, ¡Mambo Mucho Mambo! portrays the power of music HC: 978-1-5362-0608-1 • $17.99 ($23.99 CAN)
and dance to transcend racial, religious, and ethnic boundaries. Ages 7–9 • 40 pages

Simultaneously published
DEAN ROBBINS is the author of Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret in Spanish
Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing, Miss Paul and the President: The Creative
¡Mambo mucho mambo!:
Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote, and Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and
El baile que atravesó la
Frederick Douglass and a lifelong student of jazz. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
barrera del color
ERIC VELASQUEZ is the award-winning illustrator of Schomburg: The Man HC: 978-1-5362-1335-5
Who Built a Library, which received a Walter Dean Myers Award and an SCBWI
Golden Kite Award. He has also won a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award
and a Pura Belpré Illustrator Award. Eric Velasquez lives in Hartsdale, New York.

Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Eric Velasquez

 A note from author Dean Robbins
In 1940, Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, known
as Machito, formed Machito and His Afro-Cubans
Also illustrated by
and helped invent Latin jazz. The band played their Eric Velasquez
songs in the sophisticated jazz style that was popular
in the United States, improvising on traditional jazz
instruments such as trumpets and saxophones. But
they also added strong dancing rhythms from African
and Latin American countries, like Machito’s native
Cuba, along with Latin American instruments such as
maracas and congas.

Mario Bauzá, who composed classic songs for Machito and His Afro-Cubans, compared
the music to the layers of a lemon meringue pie: jazz on top and Afro-Cuban rhythms on
the bottom. It blended influences from many cultures.

Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and other great Latin jazz bandleaders started in a Schomburg:
part of New York City called Spanish Harlem, becoming popular with the neighborhood’s
The Man Who Built a Library
many Latino residents. They soon took their music three miles south to the Palladium
A Walter Dean Myers Award Winner
Ballroom, which welcomed fans from all neighborhoods. The diverse audience at the
Palladium marveled over the wide range of expression in Latin jazz, from elegance to A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture
ecstasy. I saw Puente’s band late in his career and swooned over the joyous music, just like Book of the Year
the people who first heard it in the 1940s. A School Library Journal Best
Book of the Year
Latin jazz was thought-provoking for those who paid close attention to the creative Recipient of FIVE starred reviews
compositions and solos. It was deeply emotional for those who responded to the passionate (Publishers Weekly,
performances. And it was fun to dance to for those who just wanted to cut loose. School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews,
Booklist, Shelf Awareness)
The new Latin jazz style paired perfectly with a new dance, the mambo, which came from
written by
Cuba. During songs like “Mambo Mucho Mambo,” dancers moved to the powerful beat, Carole Boston Weatherford
stepping quickly while swinging their hips in a smooth motion. Each couple added their
HC: 978-0-7636-8046-6
own ideas, from leaps to backbends to splits.
PB: 978-1-5362-0897-9
Ages 8–12 · 48 pages
Some of the Palladium dancers became well known for their special talents. Ernie Ensley
Also available as an e-book
and Dotty Adams did wild jumps and spins that many others tried to imitate. Harry and
Rose Fine danced while Harry worked as the ballroom’s photographer. Harry sometimes
took pictures as he did the mambo, sliding across the floor on his knees!

Millie Donay won a dance contest at the

Palladium in 1950, and so did Pedro Aguilar.
They met at the ballroom, married, and
became one of the country’s best mambo
teams. As a mixed-race couple, they also
challenged the prejudice of the times. Few
Also available in a
people had seen a white woman and a man
Spanish-language edition
of color proudly dancing together in public.
Schomburg: El hombre que
creó una biblioteca
By challenging segregation, the Palladium
PB: 978-1-5362-0898-6
Ballroom set the stage for the 1950s
Also available as an e-book
civil rights movement. In the 1960s, the
movement succeeded in changing the
laws of the United States so that people
of all backgrounds could mix on the
dance floor and everywhere else.

Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Eric Velasquez