Flora and the Flamingo

Flora and her flamingo friend dance across the pages of this lovely wordless picture-book from former Disney animator Molly Idle. Gracefully in sync at the beginning, they are briefly separated when Flamingo's joke leads to a tumble for Flora. Fortunately this pink avian dancer knows how to win over his little-girl partner, and hurt feelings are soon forgotten.

Awarded a Caldecott Honor in 2014, Flora and the Flamingo features delightfully expressive artwork that perfectly captures the back and forth of two dance partners and friends. The inclusion of flaps adds to the storytelling rather than just providing an interactive feature to entertain. The before and after, above and beneath the flaps, heightens the sense of motion on the page, show more building the reader's sense of observing a moving tableau. I like the pink color scheme, despite not generally caring for pink, and found both bird and girl endearing. I appreciated the fact that Flora has a rather rotund little body, appropriate for a young child, rather than the overly-thin ones that are more often seen. I also like the Flamingo's rather smirking smile. Recommended to fans of wordless picture-books, and to young dancer-lovers. show less

Flora and the Flamingo is a simply and wonderfully created book which tells a story by using very little elements. There are no words in this book, however, the reader is still engaged in the interactions between flora and her flamingo. As the story goes on, Flora and her flamingo become closer and more in sync as they dance with each other across the stage. By the end of the book, the friends are dancing together in harmony and the reader feels the bond between Flora and her flamingo. The use of the flaps is wonderful because it adds even more personality and detail to each character and how their movements change. It really adds the book by creating a much more fluid illustration of their dance. One of my favorite parts of the book is show more Molly Idle’s subtle use of color throughout the book. Most pages are white which makes the matching pink of Flora and the Flamingo really pop out at the reader. One theme of the book is the building of trust and friendship between Flora and her Flamingo and this could be used as a great tool for having classroom discussion about friendship and social skills. This book is a great addition to any classroom not only because it can be used to talk about more difficult topics, but also because many children will read it for pure enjoyment. show less

I loved this book! Even though it's wordless, Molly Idle does an amazing job or creating movement and a story with only pictures. Flora is trying to copy the movements of the flamingo but it keeps changing poses. Eventually the flamingo lets her copy and they become friends and dance together.

I think this is a great book to teach kids about persistence! I love that it's wordless so any kid can pick it right up and start reading and create their own version of Flora's story! I also think the interactive flaps are so cute and perfect for the story!

The theme of making friends is universal. The theme's execution in this book is entirely and delightfully novel. The restrained color palette of pink, white and black is reminiscent of ballet students everywhere, and cues the reader to watch the dance between the two characters tell the story. Telling the story through dance heightens the drama of each tentative step towards friendship and makes the reader aware of how this plays out in real life. A true delight!

This wordless book speaks volumes! This is a story about Flora who tries to dance like the flamingo. She does well at first but inevitably fails because humans are incapable of moving certain ways that a flamingo can. She gets upset and you can see the emotions on her face without having to read it. The flamingo helps her along doing things he knows she can follow. Sweet book with beautiful illustrations and the flaps that lift make it fun for children.I enjoyed being in Flora's very pink world. I would recommend a wordless book to any age, however if I had to give an age range I would say 1st-3rd grade.

Flora and the Flamingo is a wordless book that engages the reader through including flaps with more images behind them. Although there are no words, it is clear from the characters movements and facial expressions what is going on in the story. Flora begins to copy the flamingos movements and eventually the flamingo teaches her how to dance. It is a funny and well illustrated illustrated story which I would recommend. This would be a great book for early readers to look at and a good read aloud/activity for 5th graders and below.

In my opinion, this wordless picture book was very creative and cute for it being about a little girl and a flamingo.
One of the reasons I like this book is because the illustrations are very informative. It shows the little girl trying to copy whatever the flamingo is doing. Once the flamingo notices what is going on, she huffs and the little girl and turns away. When the flamingo sees that the girl is sad, it cheers her up and lets her join in on the many poses a flamingo does.
Without words, I believe this is a good book for an ELL student so that he/she can learn to decipher what the book's message is or what the book is trying to display throughout.