Tanya and Emily in a Dance for Two

Loved this book about an spirited, independent-minded child and her developing friendship with another girl. The book showed girls being strangers to each other, and the anxiety of a type of competitiveness, without ginning up a lot of unnecessary hostility and girlhood rivalry. In short, a welcome departure from a lot of beginning-girl-friendship tales.[return][return]Plus, an excellent demonstration of imagination at work, and I loved the way the illustrations showed the girls dancing like animals.

Tanya loves to dance and she dances all the time, even when she's setting the dinner table and going to bed. In ballet class Tanya is the smallest and the wiggliest, but she doesn’t mind as long as she dances. Then Emily joins class and Tanya can’t take her eyes off her. Emily is a ballerina in every way. Unlike Tanya, Emily is calm and controlled. She can dance beautifully. She can even do a cabriole. Tanya can’t. But Emily and Tanya don’t talk, until the day they both walk home on the path through the park zoo. Emily can dance in class, but Tanya can see dance in everything around her. As they pass the animals in the zoo, Tanya shows Emily how to dance an ostrich, a flamingo, a leopard. Soon both girls are dancing giraffes, show more antelope, penguins, and best of all, Emily teaches Tanya to dance a wild goat, a cabriole! Now Tanya and Emily dance together all the time, in class and out, and at the end of the year recital they dance a pas de deux, with a cabriole of course.

Gauch’s text is simple, yet evocative and easy to read out loud. The correct ballet terminology is always used and the different personalities of the two girls are expressed through the verbal description of their movements, as well as the illustrations. The watercolor illustrations are beautiful compositions of light, shadow, and movement. Ichikawa not only accurately depicts ballet steps, but also captures the unique spirit and character of each girl. Short and strong, little Tanya dances with a spunky muscular joy, while Emily, lithe and slim, dances with poise and grace.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-214-tanya-and-emily-in-dance-fo... show less

Loved this book about an spirited, independent-minded child and her developing friendship with another girl. The book showed girls being strangers to each other, and the anxiety of a type of competitiveness, without ginning up a lot of unnecessary hostility and girlhood rivalry. In short, a welcome departure from a lot of beginning-girl-friendship tales.

Plus, an excellent demonstration of imagination at work, and I loved the way the illustrations showed the girls dancing like animals.