“After Papa died, Mama stopped dancing.” With these opening words, Leiner sets the context, but not the mood of her story. The place is Havana, Cuba, and a girl—Sofia—longs to see her mother fill her life with dance again. Once she danced everywhere, while doing the laundry and sweeping the courtyard and preparing food, but most wonderfully with Papa during the evening and especially at Carnival. They would step out to the merengue, the tango, the rumba, the chachacha, and their favorite, the mambo. The time has come for Mama to put on those dancing shoes again, say her neighbors to Sofia, and word goes out. Men come to court her, but none has what it takes to move her feet, let alone her heart—except Eduardo. He’s a good man, but unfortunately, he has two left feet, and really awkward left feet at that: the rhythm doesn’t flow, and toes get crunched. (This is okay, though, for Eduardo is a genius at that other passion—food.) So when Mama agrees to go to Carnival with Eduardo, the two of them sway gently to the music, both feet firmly on the ground. And when the mambo rings the night air, it is Sofia that Mama motions to come join her in dance. Rodriguez’s illustrations, with their soft pastels and sharp black linework, have the transporting power of old postage stamps, getting the atmosphere of Havana just right, as Leiner gently works the chords of familial love, conveying the sense of continuity that does the heart such good. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0646-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Will and his little brother Steve face third grade and kindergarten in this over-the-top chapter book in the venerable Step-Into-Reading series for new readers. Will knows that going to the same school as his brother is going to be a challenge, but he does not know how much of a challenge it will be. From the moment Will has to hold Steve’s hand and take him to kindergarten, everything that can go wrong does. Whether Steve is slamming all the lockers, making faces through the third-grade window or starting a food fight in the cafeteria, he’s embarrassing his older brother. Expressive and stylized color illustrations add to the exaggerated plot lines. A comfortable, predictable ending on the bench outside of the principal’s office will make new readers everywhere smile with recognition. No one will mistake this for a lesson book about back to school, but new readers will find many reasons to laugh out loud with Will and Steve. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 10, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-375-83904-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
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