Talented little Tanya is growing up, and she’s starring now in her sixth story from collaborators Gauch and Ichikawa (Presenting Tanya the Ugly Duckling, 1999, etc.). Like all female ballet students, Tanya longs to begin pointe work with her first pair of toe shoes, especially after she watches the movie version of The Red Shoes. Her class finally gets toe shoes (though children at the age shown are really too young to begin serious pointe work), and they slowly learn to dance sur pointes, as their teacher says. Tanya struggles through blisters, feeling like an elephant, and actually flinging her toe shoes across the room, but she perseveres with plenty of practice and some kind encouragement from her older sister, an experienced dancer. Tanya extends her budding accomplishments on the final page (and the cover) with a dream sequence of herself dancing skillfully in her own red toe shoes. Effectively capturing Tanya’s effervescent personality, Ichikawa’s polished watercolor-and-ink illustrations also show a superb understanding of the proper positions and dynamics of ballet, right down to finger placement and the correct tilt of the head. Gauch’s first-person story has Tanya wobbling believably between a frustrated little girl and a determined young dancer, but the lovely cover illustration of Tanya in a perfect arabesque shows us that she is ready to soar. Brava, Tanya—come back again for another encore. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23314-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
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