Review by Booklist Review
Visually, this picture book shines a spotlight on Maya, an African American girl who loves dancing, while the rhyming text tells of Maya's passion for her art. Though usually pictured in ballet class, the girl's interests extend beyond the tutu to the kente cloth and liturgical dance robe as she moves to varied types of music. My friend Maya love to tap / On slick wooden floors / To jazz, blues, and rap. / She dances in the hall, / In church . . . And at the mall. / When she's dancing, / Maya has a ball. The last page shows Maya with her friend, a white girl in a wheelchair, who has drawn her own portrait of the dancer. Though the text does not always read aloud smoothly, it does clearly express the child's love of dance. The illustrations, oil paintings, are at their best when interpreting varied styles of music though portraits of musicians and musical groups. Pair this picture book with Debbie Allen's Dancing in the Wings (2000).--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-A delightful story in which a girl, unseen until the end, tells of her friend Maya's love of dance. Whether dressed in a leotard and tutu, or a shirt and jeans, or wearing kente cloth, "Maya dances with grace/And a look of pride on her face." Full-page, fluid illustrations, rendered in oil on watercolor paper, feature a willowy, long-limbed African-American child who dances to the music of jazz, blues, rap, gospel, Bach, and reggae. When she taps "on slick wooden floors," wearing a red vest, gray pants, white gloves, and a hat, she's accompanied by four boys similarly costumed. Maya even performs at the mall for a small audience that includes the narrator, a girl in a wheelchair. The last, touching page reveals Maya and her friend smiling at readers. A simple, sweet story about music, dance, and friendship.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
An offstage (until the last page) narrator tells readers about her friend Maya, a young ballet dancer. The text in rhyme describes how "music moves Maya," whether it's classical, jazz, gospel, or reggae. Soft illustrations capture the joy of dance and finally display our narrator, who is in a wheelchair but experiences her own satisfaction--through her drawing. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An African-American girl loves attending ballet class, tapping to jazz, singing in church and freestyling in the mall, but dancing in "kente cloth is best." That's when Maya has a "look of pride on her face"though why, when kente is the best, she only wears it in one spread is a little mystifying. She can move to every type of music from Bach to reggae to gospel. Maya's friend, who makes two cameo appearances, narrates this poetic love note. It is all told in verse that is undistinguished and illustrated with full-page oil paintings from Velasquez that are pedestrian but colorful. Many girls may enjoy seeing the different dance outfits, while other readers may be drawn to the African-American children, both boys and girls, who fill the pages. Curiously for a book that emphasizes depictions of African-American characters, though, Maya's narrator friend is one of the few Caucasians to appear. Sharp eyes may also note some famous musicians on one double-spread. A bit of a jumble, but a pretty one. (Picture book. 4-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
