A winsome, gorgeously illustrated meditation that will fire the imaginations of budding ballerinas.
Ballerinas are like dancing flowers, according to this beguiling picture book.
The Once Upon a Dance book production team pairs colored drawings of ballerinas (and a few male dancers) with reflections on the resonances between them and flowering plants, providing some self-help lessons for young dancers. A picture of a ballerina, resplendent in a daisy-petal tutu and gazing down at an actual daisy sprouting bravely through a crack in the pavement, illustrates the lesson that, like a plant weathering a harsh environment, a dancer must persevere through grueling practice, injuries, and auditions. A ballerina picking at a salad with her chopsticks conveys the wisdom that, just as plants need fertile soil and water, dancers need good nutrition. A ballerina wreathed in morning-glory vines and poised en pointe at the barre teaches readers that dancers must understand the physical balance of forces impinging on their bodies to stand upright, as plants do. A trio of ballerinas, one with a tattoo sleeve and another with a prosthetic right leg, urges readers to cultivate their unique attributes rather than hiding them. Two dancers entwined in a pas de deux demonstrate the importance of teamwork, which is reflected by a garden of many flowering species. And a tableau of a leaping Japanese dancer suggests that, like the evanescent cherry blossom, the beauty of a dance resides in its most fleeting and fragile moments. The slender tome concludes with a list of questions (“What’s one dance-related skill or technique you’ve improved recently?”) to reflect upon. Aimed squarely at current or aspiring ballet students who like flowers, the book offers encouragement to hopefuls with brief snippets of text couched in reassuring fortune-cookie aphorisms (“When rehearsals get tough or setbacks feel overwhelming, remind yourself that each challenge helps you grow stronger and more resilient”). The artwork is sumptuous, featuring delicate blossoms and realistic, though glamorized, dancers, all depicted using vibrant pastels and exquisite line drawings that evoke grace and movement. The result is a warm-hearted homage to ballet and a feast for the eyes.
A winsome, gorgeously illustrated meditation that will fire the imaginations of budding ballerinas.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798899940026
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Once Upon A Dance
Review Posted Online: today
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A winner.
The trials of a high school basketball team trying to clinch the state title and the graphic novelist chronicling them.
The Dragons, Bishop O’Dowd High School’s basketball team, have a promising lineup of players united by the same goal. Backed by Coach Lou Richie, an alumnus himself, this could be the season the Oakland, California, private Catholic school breaks their record. While Yang (Team Avatar Tales, 2019, etc.), a math teacher and former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, is not particularly sporty, he is intrigued by the potential of this story and decides to focus his next graphic novel on the team’s ninth bid for the state championship. Yang seamlessly blends a portrait of the Dragons with the international history of basketball while also tying in his own career arc as a graphic novelist as he tries to balance family, teaching, and comics. Some panels directly address the creative process, such as those depicting an interaction between Yang and a Punjabi student regarding the way small visual details cue ethnicity in different ways. This creative combination of memoir and reportage elicits questions of storytelling, memory, and creative liberty as well as addressing issues of equity and race. The full-color illustrations are varied in layout, effectively conveying intense emotion and heart-stopping action on the court. Yang is Chinese American, Richie is black, and there is significant diversity among the team members.
A winner. (notes, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62672-079-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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BOOK REVIEW
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PERSPECTIVES
At the time when wholesome singers like Debbie Boone were on the radio, girls from Janis Joplin’s hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, were expected to marry their high-school boyfriends. Joplin, however, preferred to draw and listen to folk and blues music. Pursuing a life of freedom and art, Joplin traveled from Texas to California, where she nursed her talent and carved out a life as a singer. Joplin was intelligent, honest and a bold pioneer for women in music, but she was also devastatingly insecure, a trait that contributed to her drug addiction and death by overdose. Angel showcases the rise of hippie culture and how its ideals of creative expression appealed to Joplin. Quotes from Joplin’s loved ones and photographs (both color and black-and-white) chronicling her life are set against geometric designs in ’60s psychedelic colors, which add interest and appeal without distracting. Young music buffs will gain an understanding of Joplin’s place in pop culture and how, even with her career cut short, she paved the way for today’s female rock musicians. (Biography. 14 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8349-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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