Talented little Tanya is growing up, and she’s starring now in her sixth story from collaborators Gauch and Ichikawa (Presenting Tanya the Ugly Duckling, 1999, etc.). Like all female ballet students, Tanya longs to begin pointe work with her first pair of toe shoes, especially after she watches the movie version of The Red Shoes. Her class finally gets toe shoes (though children at the age shown are really too young to begin serious pointe work), and they slowly learn to dance sur pointes, as their teacher says. Tanya struggles through blisters, feeling like an elephant, and actually flinging her toe shoes across the room, but she perseveres with plenty of practice and some kind encouragement from her older sister, an experienced dancer. Tanya extends her budding accomplishments on the final page (and the cover) with a dream sequence of herself dancing skillfully in her own red toe shoes. Effectively capturing Tanya’s effervescent personality, Ichikawa’s polished watercolor-and-ink illustrations also show a superb understanding of the proper positions and dynamics of ballet, right down to finger placement and the correct tilt of the head. Gauch’s first-person story has Tanya wobbling believably between a frustrated little girl and a determined young dancer, but the lovely cover illustration of Tanya in a perfect arabesque shows us that she is ready to soar. Brava, Tanya—come back again for another encore. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23314-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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