Dance in the Desert (revised edition)

by Madeleine L'Engle, Khoa Le (Illustrator)

Overview

A classic picture book from the renowned bestselling author of A Wrinkle in Time is back in print after 55 years, featuring new art and abridged text. Madeleine L’Engle fans rejoice!

Once there was a night in the desert when nobody was afraid and everybody danced...

This touching story follows a refugee family facing an impossible journey across dangerous terrain and the community that generously helps them along the way. Drawing inspiration from the Holy Family's exodus from Bethlehem to Egypt, this revised edition of Dance in the Desert remains timeless in its thoughts on perseverance, peace, and generosity.

Complete with new illustrations from artist Khoa Le, this picture book is a memorable story of family, hope, and community that serves as a guiding light in uncertain times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374395964
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	65 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) was the Newbery Medal-winning author of more than 60 books, including the beloved A Wrinkle in Time. Born in 1918, L'Engle grew up in New York City, Switzerland, South Carolina and Massachusetts.

Khoa Le is an award-winning illustrator, graphic designer, and painter based in Vietnam. She has illustrated multiple books for children, including The Fish Who Found the Sea, The Most Beautiful Thing, and Beatrice Likes the Dark.

Charlotte Jones Voiklis manages her late grandmother Madeleine L'Engle's literary business. She lived with her grandmother during college and graduate school, co-hosting dinner parties, helping answer readers' letters, and earning a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. Charlotte has worked in academia, nonprofit communications and fundraising, and philanthropy. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Date of Birth:

January 12, 1918

Date of Death:

September 6, 2007

Place of Birth:

New York, NY

Place of Death:

Litchfield, CT

Education:

Smith College, 1941

Editorial Reviews

"Le’s ethereal illustrations evoke both beauty and whimsy as beasts and birds cavort upon the sand. The result will please both parochial and secular readers...Take a turn beneath the stars with this gently spiritual paean to the power and pleasure of dancing without fear." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2025-07-04
L’Engle’s 1969 retelling of the biblical tale of the flight into Egypt finds new life on the picture-book page.

“Once there was a night in the desert when nobody was afraid and everybody danced.” As the story begins, danger looms, and a family of three—Mary, Joseph, and a toddler-aged Jesus, though they go unnamed—seek to cross the desert in a caravan. They’re refused passage by a number of caravans, but one deigns to pick them up. One evening, as members of the caravan play different instruments, a lion appears. Unafraid, the child approaches, and the two begin to dance. Soon the lion is followed by a veritable zoo of animals, including everything from penguins and pelicans to adders and ostriches. At long last the youngster sleeps, and the dawn breaks. “The dance was over. The journey would continue.” Though abridged, L’Engle’s lilting text still features the literary embellishments of the earlier edition, as when she notes that a desert is like an ocean: “And then suddenly there is nothing, nothing but waves of sand shifting and sliding in the wind, stretching out to eternity on every side.” Le’s ethereal illustrations evoke both beauty and whimsy as beasts and birds cavort upon the sand. The result will please both parochial and secular readers. Most characters are tan- or brown-skinned.

Take a turn beneath the stars with this gently spiritual paean to the power and pleasure of dancing without fear.(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews