For those who prefer their princesses brave and perfectly pretty.
A stylish princess works hard to distinguish herself and find her true calling.
Tutu-clad princess Brianna loves ballet but just cannot master the steps—steps she tries to execute on the palace grounds and not in a studio with a teacher. After a conversation with Pixie, her pink, salon-groomed poodle, she decides to try other pursuits, but “finding a talent” is not an easy goal to meet. Neither cooking nor soccer is hers to master. Then she discovers fencing, and discarding her tutu for a one-piece ensemble adorned with ribbons, she practices. Alas, this does not lead to mastery for clumsy Brianna, who runs through the drills of swordplay—once again by herself, without an instructor. Then, one night, thieves make off with the palace’s sparkling jewels, and Brianna is successful in foiling them by combining the steps, moves, and balances of ballet and fencing. Thus one princess discovers her two talents and earns her titular title. Hee’s brightly colored digital illustrations feature a pale-skinned, beribboned Brianna with a perfectly coifed black ponytail and big black eyes. Descriptive words and verbs are emphasized in differently colored type, usually pink.
For those who prefer their princesses brave and perfectly pretty. (brief glossary of ballet and fencing terms) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-50395-101-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lively celebration of music and expressive dance.
The beat is all around her when a girl takes a walk in the park with her mother.
On a lovely summer day, a young African-American girl in a bright pink sundress and matching sneakers sees, smells, sings, claps and snaps her fingers to an internal rhythm. As a boom box plays its song and a drummer taps his beat, neighborhood children join her in an energetic, pulsating dance culminating in a rousing musical parade. Schofield-Morrison’s brief text has a shout-it-out element as each spread resounds with a two-word phrase: “I shook a rhythm with my hips. /SHAKE SHAKE”; “I tapped the rhythm with my toes. / TIP TAP.” Morrison’s full-bleed, textured oil paintings capture the joy of a mother and daughter in an urban park surrounded by musicians, food vendors and many exuberant children. Read this aloud with music playing loudly—not in the background. Morrison is a Coretta Scott King/New Talent Award winner, and this is a fine debut for his wife in their first collaboration.
A lively celebration of music and expressive dance. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61963-178-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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