RED DANCING SHOES

A child is so delighted with her new shoes that she dances around the neighborhood showing them off until she trips and gets them muddy, a calamity easily remedied with polish—a simple incident that makes a good showcase for a warmhearted African- American family depicted living in a comfortable suburb. The story's slight, but the unnamed little girl narrates with an engagingly enthusiastic voice that nicely conveys the magnitude of such small events in a child's imagination. There are occasional awkward transitions in Ransome's vigorous oils between his figures and their backgrounds, while the girl doesn't look as young, or as small, as the story suggests; but his characters are unusually well individualized—the children vibrant with life, the adults exuding reliability, competence, and good humor. A likable vignette. (Picture book. 3-7)