Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am reading a list of picture books this summer, looking for ones to include in my junior high classroom library.
What I am looking for in the text, with teen readers in mind, is some dialogue, sentence variety, topic-specific vocabulary, and an idea or issue that will prompt teen readers to do deeper inquiry into that idea. I’d like the idea to promote diversity, as in including diverse voices and perspectives with a historical, environmental, social, and even global context.
The artwork is also important. I am looking for diverse faces and settings with images that teen readers can “read.”
I really loved this story — perhaps because so much of it was a mirror to me with the height part, but certainly because of the interaction among family members. I think it is important to see African American families in happy, healthy home environments when so much of the teen literature tends to feature African Americans in poverty or with family problems. The father was absent in this story, but there was no empty space of emotion or love needing to be filled. The mom, uncle, brother –they supported Sassy with natural dialogue and gestures as she embraced her gifts. I liked the sass, and the art work captured facial expressions so well (the sass was in the eyes). This book is going into the middle school classroom library — so many teens will appreciate a book that invites them to make sense of their bodies are changing.