Face the facts, Belinda has a problem, in fact, “two big problems: her left foot and her right foot.” Tall, thin Belinda is a talented teenage dancer, but her feet are far too large for her to advance in dance. (Her yard-long, pink pointe shoes are nearly as long as her legs.) In Young’s first published work, she imbues her starring character with confidence and good sense as well as talent, which shows in the illustrations as well as the text. Belinda doesn’t bemoan her fate; she just gets on with life. When three scary-looking audition judges (with the delicious names of Sir Fostercheese the Third, George Peach Crumbcake, and Winona Busywitch) tell Belinda she will never be a dancer because of her feet, she hangs up her pointe shoes and tutu and gets a job in a restaurant. But talent will find a way, and Belinda works her way up to dancing nightly at the restaurant with a jazz trio. There she is discovered and makes the leap to stardom at the Grand Metropolitan Ballet, with the same clueless critics now applauding her performance. Belinda is just happy to be dancing, and “as for the judges, she didn’t care a fig!” Young shows considerable potential in both her lively gouache paintings and her restrained, polished prose that captures the heart of a dancer. In a rather crowded corps de ballet of recent dance titles for children, Belinda stands out for more than her big feet. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-670-03549-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A snappy rhyming text celebrates an extended family’s joyous gyrations to the jazz spinning on the turntable. From waking to sleep, Baby’s right in the thick of it, as siblings, grandparents and cousins move and groove: “So they BOOM-BOOM-BOOM / and they HIP-HIP-HOP / and the bouncin’ baby boogies with a BOP-BOP-BOP.” Wheeler’s verse scans beautifully and begs to be read aloud—danced to, even—making this a fine choice for preschool and kindergarten story times. Christie’s bold, double-paged gouache compositions locate this colorfully garbed, expressively hip family within an equally vibrant community. As Baby’s big dark eyes get glassy with fatigue, the party winds down. “Daddy sings blues. / Mama sings sweet. / While that snoozy-woozy baby . . . / . . . sleeps deep, deep, deep.” Exultant and infectious, from the red-and-yellow-striped endpapers to the final “OH YEAH!” (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-15-202522-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
Lendroth brings the right ingredients, offering a tale that challenges gender stereotypes and showcases an intergenerational...
An exuberant young girl finds her match in taiko drumming.
A whirlwind of energy, Natsumi often hears the words, “Not so fast” or “hard” or “loud” from her family. When she worries her boisterous actions always lead to mistakes, her grandfather finds the perfect outlet: taiko. On stage, Natsumi pounds the large, barrel-shaped drums—their thundering boom an extension of her enthusiastic spirit. Like Kevin Henkes with his water pistol–toting Lilly, Lendroth offers a charming character who defies traditional gender associations. However, her choice to place this modern story in a “village” is interesting. Cultural festivals such as the one she describes are experienced by Japanese-Americans today, and the United States has a thriving taiko or kumidaiko scene, yet Americans do not typically refer to their small towns or rural locations as villages. Acknowledgement that the setting is in Japan in the tale’s initial setup would have been helpful, as it establishes an entirely different lens for readers. Digital art, made to look like marker drawings, are colored in a mostly pastel palette. Unfortunately, while the artist is capable of including more interest and detail in her illustrations, as in her Five Green and Speckled Frogs (2003), she fails to give these characters and setting the specificity she gave generic animals.
Lendroth brings the right ingredients, offering a tale that challenges gender stereotypes and showcases an intergenerational bond, but overall, it’s a disappointing execution to a promising start. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-17090-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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