An uplifting reminder to jeté toward your dreams.
A profile of the late Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who broke barriers as a dancer of color in the predominantly white world of ballet.
Outside an orphanage in Sierra Leone, a ballet magazine floats on the wind and lands in a young girl’s hands. Michaela’s obsession with ballet and her determination to dance only grow after she is adopted and moves to the United States. With dark brown skin, dark curls, and vitiligo, Michaela faces judgment and rejection from the ballet community from the start, enduring discouraging criticism about her body type and skin color. Michaela’s warm, loving white mother is a pillar of support, helping her dye her tights and paint her pointe shoes brown to match her skin tone and instilling confidence in her daughter, even when Michaela doubts herself. As she grows into a young woman, Michaela lands coveted roles such as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and Odette in Swan Lake, “twirling ribbons of hope around hearts” and serving as inspiration to other young brown girls. Swirling strokes of white evoke the dancers’ movement throughout the story, wrapping around dynamic digital illustrations of Michaela as she matures. The ballerinas who surround Michaela in childhood present white, while the final spread shows her as an adult, trailed by young ballerinas with a wide range of skin tones, hairstyles, and body types. An author’s note speaks to DePrince’s recent death and the legacy she leaves behind.
An uplifting reminder to jeté toward your dreams. (selected sources) (Picture-book biography. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780063222465
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
A heartwarming testament to music’s emotional power.
Music moves a nonverbal child to speak.
The narrator explains that Ronan was “born quiet. Some days he hardly says a word.” Today, when Father and Mother suggest outings to the beach or park, he’s quiet. But he looks up when Grandfather bursts in and proposes attending a concert. With refreshing optimism, Grandfather proclaims it “an adventure,” though Ronan’s parents worry about the “challenge” and “risk” of taking him to a performance. And when Ronan, his dog, and Grandfather reach Symphony Hall, an adventure it is. When the music starts, Ronan is swept away in a whirl of notes. Collectively, the instruments sound like “a sky full of stars,” sending him and his cheerful pup into a space-themed reverie. Boss notes that “the darker instruments sound cool and frightening” and the lighter ones sound “warm and friendly” but does not name the instruments, a missed opportunity to deepen readers’ understanding of the music enthralling Ronan. Audience and orchestra members alike are moved to laughter and applause when the music stops, and an awed Ronan utters his first “WOW!” Kheiriyeh’s endearing, pastel-hued cartoon illustrations convey Ronan’s astonishment and joy. Though an author’s note explains that the story is based on an actual nonverbal child’s experience of a Mozart piece in 2019, details such as Mother’s pearls and housedress and Grandfather’s finned car evoke a bucolic 1950s setting. Ronan and his family present white; background characters are racially diverse.
A heartwarming testament to music’s emotional power. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781534499713
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
It’s a bit sketchy of historical detail, but it’s coherent, inspirational, and engaging without indulging in rapturous...
A first introduction to the iconic civil rights activist.
“She was very little and very brave, and she always tried to do what was right.” Without many names or any dates, Kaiser traces Parks’ life and career from childhood to later fights for “fair schools, jobs, and houses for black people” as well as “voting rights, women’s rights and the rights of people in prison.” Though her refusal to change seats and the ensuing bus boycott are misleadingly presented as spontaneous acts of protest, young readers will come away with a clear picture of her worth as a role model. Though recognizable thanks to the large wire-rimmed glasses Parks sports from the outset as she marches confidently through Antelo’s stylized illustrations, she looks childlike throughout (as characteristic of this series), and her skin is unrealistically darkened to match the most common shade visible on other African-American figures. In her co-published Emmeline Pankhurst (illustrated by Ana Sanfelippo), Kaiser likewise simplistically implies that Great Britain led the way in granting universal women’s suffrage but highlights her subject’s courageous quest for justice, and Isabel Sánchez Vegara caps her profile of Audrey Hepburn (illustrated by Amaia Arrazola) with the moot but laudable claim that “helping people across the globe” (all of whom in the pictures are dark-skinned children) made Hepburn “happier than acting or dancing ever had.” All three titles end with photographs and timelines over more-detailed recaps plus at least one lead to further information.
It’s a bit sketchy of historical detail, but it’s coherent, inspirational, and engaging without indulging in rapturous flights of hyperbole. (Picture book/biography. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78603-018-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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