Flamingo Flamenco

by Brooke Jorden, Alex Zhdanov (Illustrator)

Overview

Every creature on Earth

has a dance all its own,

but none so well-known

as the flamingo’s flamenco.

A flamenco-dancing flamingo struts and swaggers, certain that he is the best dancer in the animal kingdom. From hip hopping hippos to tap dancing tigers, each animal finds its own jungle boogie, and Flamingo soon discovers that no two dancers are the same—and that's okay! A fantastic book for any child who loves dancing or animals, Flamingo Flamenco and its rhythmic text and boldly colored animals will get your little dancers wriggling and jiggling. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641702355
Publisher:	Familius
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Pages:	16
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Brooke Jorden earned a BA in English and editing from Brigham Young University. The author of the Lit for Little Hands series and other books for children, Brooke is also the managing editor at Familius and the mother of three.

Editorial Reviews

"Brooke Jorden's repetitive, rhythmic text may get pre-readers in a wriggling and jiggling mood; Alex Zhdanov's illustrations feature boldly colored, stylized animals on bright backgrounds, sure to catch a little one's attention."
—Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness
 

From the Publisher

2020-06-03
Everybody can dance? Silly wordplay delivers a not-so-subtle message to value each person’s unique moves.

The brief story plays off the similar pronunciations of “flamingo” and “flamenco” but does not confine itself to that dance form, introducing seven different sorts of animal and an equal number of different dances. On the versos of the ensuing sequence of six double-page spreads, hippos dance hip-hop, wallabies waltz, tigers tap, a bear performs ballet, “camels can cancan in a long chorus line,” and sloths slow dance; a flamboyant flamingo on the right side of each spread outshines each with flamenco moves. Unfortunately, the book itself does not shine. A design decision to introduce the animals in a different order than originally shown is confusing, and the animals seem to have been chosen for their alliterative possibilities and improbable dance skills rather than for genuine animal characteristics. Toddlers unfamiliar with dance styles will not appreciate the flamingo’s contortions, much less the other animals’ moves, especially in their dance costumes. The rhyming text lacks rhythm; words and pictures don’t always match. For example, one bear is shown while the text reads “bears.” The ending, with the animals changing partners and the lines “We each have a dance, / so dance well your part. / Dance with all of your heart… / …even if it’s not the flamenco,” lands with something of a thud.

This clumsily executed extended dance metaphor doesn’t make the cut. (Board book. 2-4)

Kirkus Reviews