Kitchen Dance

Cleaning up the kitchen has never looked so fun! Our unnamed narrator is starting to go to sleep when she hears noise coming from the kitchen. She wakes her brother and they sneak down to discover their parents who are cleaning, singing and dancing! Soon the entire family is involved in the impromptu party until Mama and Papa bring the kids back to bed.

The illustrations, executed in digital watercolor by the author, start out in muted tones of purples and grays perfectly suited to the night time house, but when the children peek into the kitchen, the colors explode into bright yellow, greens, and whites that perfectly match the festive scenes.

Spanish words are interspersed throughout the text, some of them as the song being sung in the show more kitchen. While the text doesn't rhyme, there is definite rhythm and some subtle alliteration ("Together they tango across the room with the leftover tamales.") that makes this a pleasure to read aloud - brave souls could even make up a tune for the song the family sings together. The text is too long for the very youngest listeners, but would work well for good preschool listeners up through first or second grade at least.

Overall this is a celebration of a lovely evening of family togetherness and could be used for all sorts of storytime themes such as: dance, music, family, cooking/kitchen, or Spanish language. Kitchen Dance would also be an excellent bedtime book.

Used for dance themed storytime March 2009; Terrific Ts (3/24), Preschool (3/24), and Family (3/26). show less

Kitchen Dance is a sweet book about two children who wake up and see their parents dancing and singing as they clean the kitchen eventually joining in on the fun.
As far as this book being used as a mentor text, there is a good example of a simile in the story. It states that as her parents are dancing, "Laughing, she spins into his arms, then out again, like a yo-yo on a string." What a great use of a simile, and it gives very good imagery of the dancing action. Also, there is a good example of proper punctuation in a story.
This was such a fun read, seeing the parents have such a good time dancing and cleaning at the same time. This could be a nice way of telling children that cleaning can be fun. Also, we see the great relationship show more between the mother and the father, and the love they have. It's even sweeter when they are not upset the children are awake, but allow them to join. You can really feel their love. They also have many Spanish and English parts of the story, in particular when Papa is singing. The illustrations are colorful, beautiful, and expressive, really showing us the dancing and simultaneous cleaning very well. I really enjoyed this book and I think young readers would too. show less

This book is a good multicultural tool for the classroom because it has some Spanish content in it. The story shows a strong loving relationship in this family and it is a clear example of a different culture. Beautiful and colorful images.

The story of two children who awake in the middle of the night to sounds of music coming from the kitchen. As they go explore they find their parents singing and dancing around as they clean. The family then breaks into an all out dancing party in the kitchen until the children are so tired they fall asleep in their parents arm and are whisked back to bed.

This was a nice book. It shows a happy brown family having fun together in a late night kitchen dance. The story is not especially remarkable, but it is noteworthy for showing a happy family who is not white (surprisingly rare in picture books) having fun together, with occasional Spanish words thrown in the mix.

Librarians might consider this title for storytimes, and let the children dance around while reading/listening to the story. It might also be a good choice for programming for or about Latinos/as, just because there are a few interspersed Spanish words.

"Kitchen Dance" is s story that demonstrates the love dance between a mother and a father. When the children join in, the Spanish family dances with love in he kitchen. Along with singing in English, they sing and speak some in Spanish as well. This story shows the love a family has, and the culture differences among people. The illustrations captivate the reader and makes the pictures feel real and in the moment.

This is a multicultural realistic fiction book that appears to be done in colored pencil. It would be used in the primary grades. In this book, a little girl and her brother wake up to find their parents dancing the night away in the kitchen, presumably after a party at their home. For awhile the brother and sister silently watch their parents dance in the kitchen, but as soon as they are noticed, their parents make them join in. Although the culture of which the family is a part of is never mentioned, they are of darker skin color, eating tamales, and doing the salsa. From this, we gather that the family is of Latino heritage. The family dances the night away until the brother and sister fall asleep in their parents arms.
This is a good show more example of realistic fiction because the depictions and things that happen are realistic and could happen easily.
This book characterizes the mother as a lively woman full of life and full of love by making her happy, smiley, full bodied, etc. The words used to describe her are reinforced by the illustrations.
This book could be used for multicultural explorations, especially to begin understanding Hispanic cultures and be a conversation starter.
This book could be used in a discussion about families and different things they can do/enjoy together. show less