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TANYA AND EMILY IN A DANCE FOR TWO

The little girl first introduced in Dance, Tanya (1989) isn't the most talented member of her dance class, but she's the most exuberant; she dances always and everywhere, even in bed at night. Then Emily joins her class and sets a new standard: Her arabesques, her pirouettes, even her cabrioles are perfection. ``A prima ballerina!'' whispers Tanya's toy bear. Still, going home through the park, Tanya dances as blithely as ever, imitating zoo animals. Emily—also alone—is curious. Soon the two are taking turns: Tanya dances a flamingo and Emily a penguin, Tanya a leopard and Emily an antelope, then both dance giraffes, and Emily shows Tanya that a cabriole is really ``a leaping, wild goat.'' And at the next recital, they do a spirited (if not perfectly matched) pas de deux. Ichikawa's rhythmic compositions subtly contrast Tanya's childish charm with Emily's more polished performances while deftly capturing the grace of both and the animals they mimic. An unusually appealing book with an unobtrusive message: Tanya may never match Emily's achievement, but when she shows her friend the playful side of their art, both are enriched. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 28, 1994

ISBN: 0-399-22688-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994

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OTIS

From the Otis series

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

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GIRLS ON THE RISE

Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it.

Former National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman invites girls to raise their voices and make a difference.

“Today, we finally have a say,” proclaims the first-person plural narration as three girls (one presents Black, another is brown-skinned, and the third is light-skinned) pass one another marshmallows on a stick around a campfire. In Wise’s textured, almost three-dimensional illustrations, the trio traverse fantastical, often abstract landscapes, playing, demonstrating, eating, and even flying, while confident rhymes sing their praises and celebrate collective female victories. The phrase “LIBERATION. FREEDOM. RESPECT” appears on a protest sign that bookends their journey. Simple and accessible, the rhythmic visual storytelling presents an optimistic vision of young people working toward a better world. Sometimes family members or other diverse comrades surround the girls, emphasizing that power comes from community. Gorman is careful to specify that “some of us go by she / And some of us go by they.” She affirms, too, that each person is “a different shape and size,” though the art doesn’t show much variation in body type. Characters also vary in ability. Real-life figures emerge as the girls dream of past luminaries such as author Octavia Butler and activist Marsha P. Johnson, along with present-day role models including poet and journalist Plestia Alaqad and athlete Sha’carri Richardson; silhouettes stand in for heroines as yet unknown. Imagining that “we are where change is going” is hopeful indeed.

Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025

ISBN: 9780593624180

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024

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