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DANCE! DANCE! UNDERPANTS!

Name: DANCE! DANCE! UNDERPANTS!
Author: Bob Shea
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1379-2

From the Ballet Cat series

by Bob Shea ; illustrated by Bob Shea ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2016

A friend’s single-mindedness overcomes myriad excuses, and a good time is had by all, beginning readers included

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Friendship has its high and low points in this dance adventure.

Ballet Cat wants one thing and one thing only—that which she considers the highlight of ballet dancing—to leap high into the air. Her friend Butter Bear comes up with one excuse after another not to, all of which are countered by Ballet Cat. Finally Butter Bear realizes that even hibernation will not save her, and she whispers the real reason for her reluctant behavior: her patterned underwear will surely draw laughs from their watching friends. This scenario is designed to elicit chuckles from the beginning readers to whom the title is targeted; a two-page chant of “UNDERPANTS!” (times six) certainly adds to the fun. Ballet Cat is all pink, and Butter Bear is yellow, with each sketched in a cartoony style and outlined in heavy black lines against solid-colored backgrounds. The dialogue is spoken in colorful speech bubbles. This is the second adventure for Ballet Cat, and while she and B. Bear lack nuance in their relationship, their high spirits and lively repartee should keep fans of the series turning pages.

A friend’s single-mindedness overcomes myriad excuses, and a good time is had by all, beginning readers included . (Early reader. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4847-1379-2

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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PARROTFISH HAS A SUPERPOWER
by Jill Esbaum ; illustrated by Bob Shea

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OH, ARE YOU AWAKE?
by Bob Shea ; illustrated by Jarvis

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STINKBIRD HAS A SUPERPOWER
by Jill Esbaum ; illustrated by Bob Shea

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
PETE THE KITTY'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL
by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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I LOVE PETE THE KITTY
by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
TOOL SCHOOL
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by James Dean

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)