Lucy loves to dance. Unfortunately, as her mother tells her, grandmas do NOT dance. Sure enough, when her grandma comes to visit, Lucy can get her to play ball, give her a horsey ride, and play dress up -- anything but dancing. After a sweet moment, though, Lucy learns that grandmas do dance, but "only with very special people."
While the artwork for this one is fun, and many children will empathize with a character who loves to dance, I had several issues with this book. For one thing, the blanket statement that grandmas never dance is quite often false and paints grandmothers in a bad light. Yet when it is then turned around to state that grandmas do dance but only with special people, it may make some children ask, "Well, then why doesn't my grandma dance with me? Am I not special?" The statement also had me wondering why her grandma only danced with her at the end. Was Lucy not special until then? And how could someone who couldn't dance play so many other energetic games? It also bothered me that the grandmother not only seemed not to be enjoying Lucy's company, but that she went as far as to crawl into the closet during hide and seek so she could escape Lucy and get a nap in. All in all, way too many blanket statements, inconsistencies, and negatively-portrayed characters for me to recommend this one.
Pre-K, EL (K-3) -- NOT RECOMMENDED. Reviewer: Caryn
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment