BRAVO, TAVO!

There’s more than basketball to this charming story set in Mexico. Young Gustavo (Tavo) lives to play the game, even though he has a hard time in his falling-apart sneakers. When his father enlists his help in revitalizing the old irrigation ditches during a summer of drought, Tavo sadly has little time to play. The hard work of ditch digging, however, does bring water from the mountains to the parched fields, and salvages both the corn crop and his father’s reputation. Tavo loses his shoes, now in pieces, in the swiftly flowing water, effectively ending his basketball playing. However, a kind deed to an old woman we never see (a bruja—witch—perhaps?) results in the recovery of the shoes, now refurbished and infused with mysterious energy. Gloriously quilted (a future fashion trend?), the dazzling shoes and the muscle Tavo has acquired digging the ditches give his basketball game new power. The colorful, impressionistic illustrations are full of movement and feeling. Bravo, Tavo, indeed. (Picture book. 5-8)