Josephine Wants to Dance - Hardcover

French, Jackie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810994313 ISBN 13: 9780810994317

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2007

Synopsis

The popular wombat’s friend

From the award-winning duo behind the bestselling Diary of a Wombat (the famous wombat even makes an appearance at the ballet complete with a tutu!), Josephine Wants to Dance encourages all readers to never give up and to always dance to their own music.

Josephine loves to dance. She dreams of wearing a pink tutu and silk ballet shoes. But everyone reminds her that kangaroos don’t dance—they hop! Kangaroos don’t wear tutus, and they never wear ballet shoes! So Josephine sneaks into town, where the ballet rehearses, and watches for hours as the dancers spin and swirl and pirouette and curtsy.

But on the day of the ballet performance, the prima ballerina twists her ankle and a new dancer is needed for the lead role, a dancer who can jump higher than all the rest. Will Josephine be able to make her dream of becoming a ballerina come true?

About this title

About the Author:

Jackie French is the author of Diary of a Wombat, also illustrated by Bruce Whatley, and Hitler’s Daughter, winner of the CBC Young Readers Award.

Bruce Whatley is the illustrator of many bestselling picture books, including Noises at Night, Ruthie Bon Bair: Do Not Go to Bed with Wringing Wet Hair, and The Night Before Christmas. He lives in New South Wales, Australia.

Review:

The oft-told story of the stage-struck youngster who saves the show when the star is injured returns in this variation that features a ballet-dancing kangaroo named Josephine. She perseveres in the face of a doubting brother named, of course, Joey, and a giggling audience. It's her ability to twirl and leap and point her toes that finally drives them to clap and cheer. She's a graceful if not beautiful ballerina who practiced her art with other Australian animals but yearned for something more than the outback and found it. The author and illustrator have a number of collaborations behind them, most notably Diary of a Wombat (2003). An entertaining read-aloud that shows off an appealing tutu-clad kangaroo leaping across perfectly pink pages as if she were captured in a series of camera clicks. (Picture book. 4-7) (Kirkus Reviews)

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0810994313
• ISBN 13: 9780810994317
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Whatley Bruce