Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The verses in newcomer Hager?s jaunty rhyme about a kangaroo?s love of dance are contagious, and both art and text convey an insouciant joy that may well encourage youngsters to dance through life themselves. This bouncy toddler cannot get enough of what she loves. She hops out of bed into her huge, pink shoes with neat pink bows and begins dancing to the tune of a different drummer: ?Dancing Matilda/ Dances out of bed,/ Dances to the drumbeat/ Dancing in her head!? Murphy?s (The Boll Wevil Ball) playful paintings feature a child so rambunctious the adults around her seem either bemused or startled as she twirls by. In Matilda?s kangaroo-populated town, the light at the crosswalk instructs pedestrians to hop instead of walk. The heroine dances with her stuffed koala bear and grooves in front of the Kookaburra Krush band poster above her bed. Following each verse, the rhythm of the poem changes to resemble the beat of the familiar Kookaburra song refrain: ?Dance, Miss Matilda! Dance, Miss Matilda!/ Dance and dance/ and dance.? Matilda?s father can?t even catch her long enough for a bear hug, and when her parents send her outside, she glides through town and back home at night, until her mother finally says ?stop!? But even then, Matilda ends up dancing?if only in her dreams. Ages 3-7. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-From the minute she wakes up to the minute she falls asleep, an effervescent kangaroo dances through her day. "DANCING Matilda,/DANCING queen,/DANCES to the sloshing/of the washing machine!/DANCES like a BUTTERFLY-DANCES like a BRIDE-/DANCES till her daddy says to DANCE OUTSIDE!" The youngster even capers in her dreams as she envisions taking a curtain call filled with roses from her adoring fans. The endearing Matilda is oblivious to everyone and everything around her, including mud puddles, laundry hanging to dry, and the postman. Murphy's lively and colorful illustrations are a perfect complement to the hopping and bopping verse and its spunky heroine. Pair this energetic offering with books about Katharine Holabird's "Angelina Ballerina" (Pleasant Co) or Patrica Lee Gauch's "Tanya" (Philomel) for a pirouetting good time.-Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Forget the waltz: Matilda, a hyperactive kangaroo child, is Ginger Rogers from sunup to bedtime. The word dance appears multiple times on nearly every page, making the text little more than an exercise in rhyming. Offsetting Matilda's manic energy are meticulous images, many set against palate-cleansing white backdrops. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Matilda is an exuberant little kangaroo who dances all day long, from the moment she hops out of bed straight through to bedtime, and even into the night in her dreams. The rhyming text follows Matilda through her day, dancing at home and around her town and then back home to dance through dinner. The amusing text sections are interspersed with a repeated refrain that gets rather annoying ("dance and dance and dance . . . "), but perhaps that is to indicate that Matilda's endless twirls and kicks might drive her parents slightly mad. Murphy's bouncy illustrations add considerable charm to the story with expressive kangaroo faces and small, humorous details for readers to discover. A little kookaburra bird appears on most pages, and Matilda is tucked into bed with her toy bear--a koala bear, of course. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
