A title sure to attract ballet aficionados, with added appeal for its depiction of an adoptive family and a ballerina who...
This autobiographical title for newly independent readers will reward efforts with an inspiring story about ballerina Michaela DePrince’s life and passion for dance.
Orphaned as a young child in Sierra Leone, Michaela is a shy girl whose vitiligo causes a loss of pigmentation on parts of her body. This makes her an easy target for teasing, but another child at the orphanage, Mia, befriends her. Another bright spot occurs when she is transfixed by a magazine picture of a ballerina. When an American family adopts her and Mia, their new mother promises that they will study ballet. Michaela’s dreams come true, and she overcomes her shyness in order to perform as a ballerina. The narrative is broken up into chapters detailing her ongoing achievements, and difficult vocabulary is followed by parenthetical phonetic spellings to support decoding. Photographs document Michaela’s life, including images of her time in the orphanage and of her participation in a film entitled First Position, among other highlights. These are interspersed with illustrations that depict ballet positions and Michaela on stage and in class. At its heart is the core message that hard work and determination are the keys to making any dream come true.
A title sure to attract ballet aficionados, with added appeal for its depiction of an adoptive family and a ballerina who just happens to be black. (Early reader/memoir. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-75516-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
It's another sweet confection, with nary a mention of winning or losing—for those who like their international encounters on...
An invitation to the “World Games” leads to international friendships for the porky little skating star introduced in Dream Big, Little Pig (2011).
Though Paris is far away from New Pork City, little Poppy quickly loses her initial anxiety at being among strangers from many countries. As her BF Emma puts it: “everyone smiles in the same language!” In no time, she’s hooked up with a snowboarder from China (“Ni hao”) and found common ground with an Italian skier in the music of Poochini (“Buona fortuna!”). She discusses costume design with a fellow skater from Japan (“Ganbatte kudasai”), then gives a nervous Aussie speed skater a pep talk (parting with a “hooroo!”). Promoting the proper air of bright bonhomie, Bowers dresses a diverse cast of happy-looking, big-headed animals in sportswear or casual clothing and leaves the airy backgrounds either blank or lightly traced with arabesques and swooping curves. Finally, having “skated from her heart” in the competition, Poppy joins her proud parents for a week of French food (laying off the charcuterie, one hopes), sightseeing and sending postcards.
It's another sweet confection, with nary a mention of winning or losing—for those who like their international encounters on the bland side. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4022-6644-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A usually accomplished illustrator tries for extreme simplicity and takes a header with this confused and confusing episode. Having ridden his new bike “up / and down / and around” (and then, redundantly, “down the hill, / around the curve, / and back up”), Tom stops at friend Sam’s house to show it off. When he turns back from knocking at the door, his bike is gone. Four pages of searching later he suddenly spots Sam zooming around the adjacent yard (an area that was empty in a previous scene), gets an apology and happily shares bike and helmet with his buddy until a couple—presumably Sam’s parents, though they look only a year or so older—wheel in another bicycle and helmet. Along with wondering who those two newcomers are, child readers are likely to doubt that Tom’s stubby legs can reach the pedals in some scenes (in others he looks taller) and also how Sam could make a clean getaway with the bike when Tom is standing, in the picture, fewer than 10 feet away. The very brief text and simply drawn figures suspended in generous quantities of white space give this a superficially appealing look, but Ander’s Me and My Bike (2008) or Cari Best’s Sally Jean the Bicycle Queen, illustrated by Christine Davenier (2006), convey a fledgling bicyclist’s joy more effectively and coherently. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2226-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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