Review by Booklist Review
Adoring parents watch their little girl put on a show. She is clearly the bright spot in their lives. They and the living room appear in shades of gray, but our star is dressed in a hot-pink tutu. The darkened room recedes as she tells and acts out a surreal chain story. I moved my hand and I found a coconut. / I shook the coconut and I found a lake. / I stirred the lake and I found a fish. As her words pour forth in their original Spanish as well as English, objects first seen in the drab living room now manifest in huge, brilliant hues. Like many young artists, she becomes so immersed in her imaginings that she temporarily loses her place, What was I saying . . . ?, but recovers. Tale over, her glowing parents hug her. The living room/stage descends into darkness. Or does it? For the transformative power of art lingers, and the little toy unicorn, awakened in rainbow colors, seems primed for an offstage adventure. A dreamy paean to creative expression.--McDermott, Jeanne Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lujan and Sadat, who previously collaborated on 2006's Tarde de invierno/Winter Afternoon, return with another bilingual tale built around self-expression. Their heroine, seen wearing a pink tutu in her family's living room, commands her parents' full attention as she begins to dance. "I moved my hand and/ I found a coconut," the girl narrates. "I shook the coconut/ and I found a lake." Dominated by swaths of inky blackness, Sadat's mixed-media artwork shows the domestic landscape receding-the girl's parents disappear into silhouette, a table with a teapot transforms into an animal. The dance then takes the girl underwater, where she finds a large fish and a smiling moon, which she rides through the night sky. She's so caught up in her storytelling and movement that she even gets a bit lost ("What was I saying...?"), before regaining her footing, pirouetting along a rainbow and embracing her proud, smiling parents. The reappearance of a rainbow-hued unicorn in the empty, darkened living room cements the idea that the girl's creativity and imagination aren't merely flights of fancy, but forces with legitimate power. Ages 2-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Lujan and Sadat have choreographed a playful ballet starring an inventive preschooler. The dance opens in the child's living room; her smiling parents constitute the audience. Against dramatic black backgrounds and gray, patterned furnishings, the child's magenta tutu and slippers command attention. Eyes closed, she begins the bilingual narration, one sentence in English and Spanish per spread: "Movi la mano y encontre un coco./I moved my hand and found a coconut." As she glides, swirls, and slips through the colored pencil, ink, crayon and digitally designed scenes, the furniture and household objects morph into large scale, colorful elements in her imaginary world. A translucent orange fish (whose face is the moon) spills over two spreads. The girl rides the moon, landing in a yellow landscape, where she reaches and finds a rainbow. Select objects returning to view display a multicolored exterior within the still monochromatic-and now messier-home; the the dancer and her guardians are subtly transformed, each sporting rosy cheeks, as does the fish in its bowl. The wordless spreads that follow feature one of the toys-a newly striped unicorn-taking its place on the circular carpet. Lujan's spare, suggestive text leaves ample room for Sadat to create a magical dream world. The girl's giddy logic rings true; the marvelous use of color and expert pacing propel the dance. Sure to inspire fresh flights of fancy!-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library (c) Copyright 2012. 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 Kirkus Book Review
A tutu-clad child encounters existentialism through movement in this 47-word poem by award-winning Argentine poet Lujn (Stephen and the Beetle, 2012, etc.). The English text follows the Spanish on each page as French artist Sadat's surreal illustrations float by on a mostly black background. Digitally collaged creatures done in colored pencil, ink and crayon interact with the precocious ballerina, who creates a universe with a wave of her hand as her lovingly indulgent parents watch barefoot from the loveseat: "I moved my hand and / I found a coconut. // I shook the coconut / and I found a lake. // I stirred the lake / and found a fish. // I swirled the fish and / I found the moon." In the dark of the house, after she and her parents vacate the "stage," one of her manifested creatures, a rainbow unicorn, springs free from the living-room rug and gallops off, presumably seeking its own destiny. The palette is largely grays and blacks, modulating to include bright pastels as the little girl's imagination takes hold. Whereas the artwork can be described as naptime soothing, the New Age-y text flirts with pretention, and the overall effect is just plain precious, more idealized than celebratory. Adults wishing to engage children in experiments with poetry and movement may find this flight of fancy to be an acceptable jumping-off point for further exploration. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
