Inspired by stories from her mother's childhood, acclaimed author Margarita Engle and award-winning artist John Parra have crafted a vibrant picture book about a young girl and her family who find joy in the music flowing from outside their window. Elo?sa loves music, but with her family too poor to buy a radio, she can only hear it when rhythms and melodies drift through her open window. Birds and cats raise their voices in daily choruses, and songs from a neighbor's radio travel through the air. On the street below, children shake maracas and beat a steady rhythm on bongo drums and a lute, a cowbell, and un g?iro round out the orchestra.

The sounds of her neighborhood are music enough for Elo?sa, but when Mam? gets sick and the family can't afford medicine, can la m?sica soothe her the way it's always comforted Elo?sa?