Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx

De: Sonia Manzano

Narrado por: Sonia Manzano

The Pura Belpré Honor winner for The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano and one of America's most influential Hispanics - Maria on Sesame Street - delivers a beautifully wrought coming-of-age memoir. Set in the 1970s in the Bronx, this is the story of a girl with a dream. Emmy Award-winning actress and writer Sonia Manzano plunges us into the daily lives of a Latino family that is loving - and troubled. This is Sonia's own story rendered with an unforgettable narrative power.

When listeners meet young Sonia, she is a child living amid the squalor of a boisterous home that is filled with noisy relatives and nosy neighbors. Each day she is glued to the TV screen that blots out the painful realities of her existence and also illuminates the possibilities that lie ahead. But - click! - when the TV goes off, Sonia is taken back to real life - the cramped, colorful world of her neighborhood and an alcoholic father. But it is Sonia's dream of becoming an actress that keeps her afloat among the turbulence of her life and times. Spiced with culture, heartache, and humor, this memoir paints a lasting portrait of a girl's resilience as she grows up to become an inspiration to millions.

©2015 Sonia Manzano (P)2015 Scholastic Inc.

The book listener

I liked the book it really spoke to me and I really liked the performance my name is Maria I really like the fact that you played a character named Maria on Sesame Street overall it was really really well done

Amazing

This is the greatest performance by a narrator in all my years listening to Audible and the narration is so powerful it almost takes over the story, but it can’t because it is Sonia Manzano herself. I loved it. I’m convinced now that not only is “Maria from Sesame Street” a national treasure, but the real Sonia Manzon is a Universal treasure.

I listened to this will quarantining with covid. I was looking back for comfort snd thought, “Why not listen to the story of that kindly Latina woman that made me feel so comfortable as a child.” I was a Latino boy from the Bronx trying to sound his syllables correctly and watching her. Now I’m a lawyer looking for inspiration and listening to her amazing story told with wit and daring. Thank you Sonia for this book and for all those childhood memories.

Fantastic!

I absolutely love it when the auto-biography is read by the actual person, it makes everything so much livelier. You hear her personality come through. She was so candid and some parts a bit traumatic yet she spoke about them as to say “this was my life”. I pray she was able to break the cycle.

Wonderful!

Well written, so much fun to hear the story of someone I've seen on TV since I was 2, and who grew up in the same part of the Bronx I did. I'm looking forward to more books from this author!

different narrator needed

I have heard so many great things about this book. I also grew up loving Sonia on TV. However, I couldn't make it past 5 minutes into the audible version because she sounded like she was yelling. I plan to read the print version though.