THE DANCING LETTERS

A young girl tries to fulfill her grandmother’s birthday request.

Olivia “is a true original.” She wears her shirt inside out and sports one yellow and one green sock. She’s incredibly creative, drawing pictures, making sculptures, and performing her own compositions at the piano. Olivia and her grandmother are a lot alike, and the two love to play together in their matching-mismatching socks! For her 70th birthday, Grandma asks for a story, trusting that Olivia’s imagination will result in something extraordinary. Olivia struggles with writing, however; when she tries, the letters always dance about, and grammar concepts won’t align. Olivia becomes frustrated and sad. Grandma joins her and helps ensure that “each letter finds its proper place.” Translated from French, this story of a child with a common learning difficulty will bolster readers struggling with similar problems and help those unfamiliar with these issues better understand them. Fournier presents the protagonist as quite capable, with just one big conflict to surmount. But it isn’t clear what help Grandma provides at the end, so a solution remains mysterious. Galvan’s illustrations are adorable and sweet, just like our main character, and are likewise imaginative in their artistry. In an author’s note, Fournier discusses her daughter Clémence’s journey with dyslexia and her preferred tools for dealing with her learning disability. Olivia and Grandmother have pale skin; Olivia has light red hair, while Grandma is gray-haired.

A visually pleasing, encouraging tale.