Mabel Dancing - Softcover

Christine Davenier is one of Europe's leading illustrators. For Walker she has illustrated Very Best (Almost) Friends, a book of poems collected by Paul B. Janeczko, as well as her own stories Frankie and Albertine and Sleepy Sophie. Amy Hest has written many children's stories including Rosie's Fishing Trip, Jamaica Louise James, When Jessie Came Across the Sea and four books about Baby Duck, In the Rain with Baby Duck, Baby Duck and the New Eyeglasses, You're the Boss, Baby Duck and Off to School, Baby Duck.

Picture Mabel, bubble-bathed and lovingly tucked into bed. Now picture Mabel arising, drawn to the star-filled window, then counting her toes (ten) by the bedevilment of the sounds of a waltz--one, two, three, one, two, three--rising up the stairs from Mama and Papa's dancing party below. What's a girl to do? Grab her yellow blanket, get her dog, and sit on the staircase to watch, of course. And if a girl can't contain herself, she dances down the stairs, spins in her red nightgown, whirls in her yellow cape, and everybody applauds, even Papa and Mama, who pick her up to dance a three-person, four-legged waltz before taking her back upstairs to tuck her in again. Girl and dog fall asleep, still hearing the music. Hest's (Off to School, Baby Duck, not reviewed, etc.) little Mabel is one great reason for parents to have dancing parties. Davenier's (Low-Down Laundry Line Blues, 1999, etc.) ethereal watercolors match the poetry of the text and the spirit of the evening. Together, Hest and Davenier present a new look at a familiar childhood yearning. Delightful. (Picture book. 4-6) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.