A slight effort with minimal cultural references.
It’s bedtime, and Baby isn’t having it. What’s a parent to do?
No problem—just dial up some hip-swaying, foot-moving salsa music! In the kitchen, Mami kicks up her heels with the baby bottle while Papi dances his giggling infant across the living room floor. The exuberant family dog joins in the fun as Papi spins Mami around. Finally, the baby cuddles in Mami’s arms as the dance slows. The salsa lullaby soothes as the baby’s parents tuck their tot in with a stuffed toy. While both child and doggy friend drift off to sleep, they continue following the salsa beat in their dreams. Unfortunately, Arena’s mostly English four-line verses fail to conjure salsa’s infectious beat and bobble a bit in one stanza: “Mami glides across the floor. / Papi sets the pace. / Baby sings la la la, / makes a silly face.” There are only seven Spanish words (not counting “Mami” or “Papi”) in the entire book—one per each two-line, nonrhyming refrain. “Baila, baby, baila. / Dance, dance, dance.” The phrase “Buenas noches” is paired with “Good night!” outside the preceding pattern and rhyme. Meza’s characters present as a loving Latinx family but appear to be dancing swing rather than salsa. A retro boombox is the source of the swirling musical notes and floral designs that also fail to evoke salsa’s spicy tempo. Maurie J. Manning’s Kitchen Dance (2008) is a more authentic choice.
A slight effort with minimal cultural references. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-57973-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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