Cesaria Feels the Beat

by Denise Rosario Adusei, Priscila Soares (Illustrator)

Overview

In this powerful and inspiring picture book, a deaf girl stands up for herself and takes off her shoes while dancing at her Carnival performance so she can feel the music through her bare feet.

Cesaria is going to perform for the seaside Carnival. She skips past the beach barefoot, dressed in her favorite peacock leotard.

But when her dance director tells her she must put on her shoes to go on stage, Cesaria signs, “Peacocks don’t wear shoes!”

You see, Cesaria hears the music through the soles of her feet, but no one seems to understand…

…That is, until all the dancers take off their shoes, and learn to feel the music, just like Cesaria.

Cesaria Feels the Beat is a lyrical and heartfelt story about deafness, community, and Carnival.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250824967
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	06/04/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	130,778
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.35(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Denise Rosario Adusei's personal mission is to exhibit possibilities and portray different worlds to children. As the Executive Director of the Bronx Children's Museum, she sparks the imagination by exposing children to the arts. When writing children's books, she draws from her experience as a preschool director and former child. Although her children have grown up, Denise remains a child at heart.

Priscila Soares was born in São Paulo, Brazil where she graduated in Art Education. She then moved to San Francisco to study Film Editing at the Academy of Art University. She works across many mediums and disciplines, including paintings, sculptures, comics, stop-motion, photography, design, and book illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

★ "A vibrant, poetic celebration of Deafness, dance, nature, and self-advocacy." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "A lovely book about a child who experiences the world in an atypical way that readers will readily understand." — Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2024-03-23
A Deaf dancer learns to assert herself.

Preparing for the Carnival dance, Cesaria blissfully twirls barefoot on the beach: “She sings lyrics with her fingers. She raises her hands to the sky, to the birds, to the clouds.” When it’s time to perform, she dons her peacock costume: tutu, feathers, headdress…but no shoes (the better to feel the beat of the music). Perfect! But the director doesn’t think so. Though Cesaria protests that peacocks don’t wear shoes, he insists she wear them. Dismayed, Cesaria escapes to the shore: “The Earth radiates its heartbeat through her bare feet. Its tempo tickles her toes.” Reluctantly, she decides she can’t let down the other dancers. But when she rejoins her troupe, the Earth feels too still beneath her sandal-clad feet. Cesaria freezes, too…until she feels a sea breeze. Moved by “music only she can hear,” Cesaria “flaps her wings, stands proud,” and kicks off her shoes, urging her troupe to do likewise in a triumphant finale. Lyrical text evokes the rhythm of Carnival drums and lapping waves. Soares, who herself has hearing loss, poignantly expresses Cesaria’s joy, frustration, and pride. Lush jewel tones convey the bustle of Carnival and the peace of Cesaria’s beloved seashore. All characters are Black, with varying shades of brown skin; the setting appears to be Brazilian. An author’s note explains that the book was inspired by the experiences of Adusei’s Deaf cousin.

A vibrant, poetic celebration of Deafness, dance, nature, and self-advocacy. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews