A well-crafted, immersive, interactive tale for children.
In this installment of the Dance-It-Out! series, Herbert intertwines a story of a helpful firefly with dance movements in a delightful tale for children.
The Silver Birch Forest animals begin gathering to celebrate the solstice. The highlight of the celebration is the “Firework Fliers, a squad of one hundred fireflies who would light up the sky in a dazzling, darting, dizzying kaleidoscope”; the grand finale determines who best captures the spirit of the season. Fenix, a firefly with short wings, dreams of being a Firework Flier, but realizes that is unlikely. His best friend, Bolt, is a Firework Flier, and Fenix is ready to cheer him on. Unfortunately, Bolt drinks too much nectar and gets a bellyache. Fenix decides to step in so the show won’t be spoiled. As Fenix climbs the tree to shine at the top, he encounters a bullfrog, a spider, and an owl, all offering to help Fenix—but they really want to help themselves to a firefly snack. He eludes them, and, with the Firework Fliers, he helps to create glowing animal shapes to enchant the forest animals, including snakes, rabbits, and, finally, fireflies, with Fenix shining brightly at the top. “Everyone agreed fireflies were the perfect Spirit of the Season.” The book, a creative blend of narrative and interactive participation, encourages children to act out the tale—each portion of the story is accompanied by dance movements, with descriptions and photographs of a ballerina executing each element of the choreography. The movements involve all parts of the body, with instructions such as “flap your raven wings in the breeze” and “swish and sway like a fish.” Partridge’s illustrations, in soft, glowing colors, enrich the story beautifully, and the text is rich with imagery (“The sun had cast long shadows across the field”). A lovely message is conveyed to readers: Everyone is important, and each of us, no matter how small, can play a key part in the things we do.
A well-crafted, immersive, interactive tale for children.Pub Date: March 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781955555821
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Once Upon A Dance
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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