This story full of motion, passion for the art of dance, and onomatopoeia that lets readers hear Gus’ tapping will urge...
With twinkle toes like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson’s, a young light-skinned black boy has rhythm oozing from his pores.
From morning until night, Gus taps everywhere he goes. Unable to afford tap shoes, he adds seven red thumbtacks to his shoes to make his fancy footwork audible. Every day, Gus attempts to convince the teacher at the local dance studio—an African-American man who wears dreadlocks like Gus’—that he has the moves to be a tap dancer. But the teacher will not allow thumbtacks on his hardwood floors: “You won’t get through this door until you have real tap shoes.” Gus finally realizes that his dance moves are just the commodity he needs to earn entree into the studio. Though the facial features of some of the characters are sometimes distorted, Gilchrist’s airy watercolor illustrations skillfully capture Gus’ perpetual motion, with his long locks flying this way and that in nearly every illustration. Some readers might find the teacher a disappointment: with the passion and potential Gus has for being a tap-dancing prodigy, surely the teacher could find the boy a used pair of tap shoes to help him start honing his craft. Gus’ poverty need not be an obstacle. Nevertheless, it proves a suitable driver for the story and a showcase for Gus’ determination.
This story full of motion, passion for the art of dance, and onomatopoeia that lets readers hear Gus’ tapping will urge readers to add thumbtacks to their own shoes and start dancing! (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9977720-0-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Alazar Press
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
The snappy text will get toes tapping, but the information it carries is limited.
Dancing is one of the most universal elements of cultures the world over.
In onomatopoeic, rhyming text, Bolling encourages readers to dance in styles including folk dance, classical ballet, breakdancing, and line dancing. Read aloud, the zippy text will engage young children: “Tappity Tap / Fingers Snap,” reads the rhyme on the double-page spread for flamenco; “Jiggity-Jig / Zig-zag-zig” describes Irish step dancing. The ballet pages stereotypically include only children in dresses or tutus, but one of these dancers wears hijab. Overall, children included are racially diverse and vary in gender presentation. Diaz’s illustrations show her background in animated films; her active child dancers generally have the large-eyed sameness of cartoon characters. The endpapers, with shoes and musical instruments, could become a matching game with pages in the book. The dances depicted are described at the end, including kathak from India and kuku from Guinea, West Africa. Unfortunately, these explanations are quite rudimentary. Kathak dancers use their facial expressions extensively in addition to the “movements of their hands and their jingling feet,” as described in the book. Although today kuku is danced at all types of celebrations in several countries, it was once done after fishing, an activity acknowledged in the illustrations but not mentioned in the explanatory text.
The snappy text will get toes tapping, but the information it carries is limited. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63592-142-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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