Dancing Larry is a Marshall Cavendish publication.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–That delightful polar bear who is employed as a lifeguard at the Hotel Larry is back. His matter-of-fact, sensible approach to life is evidenced in the explanations of daily events that he offers the Frobishers, the hotel owners. Here, he accompanies young Mildred to her dancing lesson and joins the class. He sees nothing wrong with a polar bear dancing as, he explains, there was plenty of it in his Arctic home. However, Madame Swoboda refuses to let him participate. Mildred gives him ballet lessons at home, which he then shows the other polar bears at the zoo where his brother works. The wacky story is clever, genial, and full of the droll humor found in other books about Larry. Energetic pictures of the active bears, done with simple lines, are particularly funny. This imaginative, lovable polar bear will be welcomed back by young readers.–Andrea Tarr, Corona Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. When ballet instructor Madame Swoboda refuses to accept Larry, an enormous polar bear, as a pupil in the children's ballet class, he refuses to admit defeat. With a band of bruin brothers who are, like him, entranced by the possibilities of expressing themselves through dance, Larry forms a ballet company and mounts an extraordinary performance. From the series that began with Young Larry (1997) and At the Hotel Larry (1997), this unusual picture book combines a good story with colorful artwork that creates a world like, yet unlike, our own. Just as Larry's voice lends a distinctive tone to the narrative, Pinkwater's polar bear images, set against the cheery colors of the Bayonne, New Jersey, backdrop, make a distinctive visual statement. Pair this with Amy Young's Belinda the Ballerina (2002), another picture book in which a dancer overcomes discouragement to triumph in ballet. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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More About the Author
Daniel Pinkwater lives with his wife, the illustrator and novelist Jill Pinkwater, and several dogs and cats in a very old farmhouse in New York's Hudson River Valley.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
4* Ballet Larry!,
This review is from: Dancing Larry (Hardcover)
Published only a half a year after "Bad Bears and a Bunny," this 2006 offering lacks the sly wit and bravado of the "Bad Bear" series. The stories about Larry and Roy generally have fewer hi-jinks and big laughs than those about blueberry muffin-stealing Irving and Muktuk (the two bad bears), and I suppose the latter series has somewhat spoiled me.
Still, Larry (who not only loves muffins, but is a pretty kewl, bongo playing bear to boot) is a little too society-respectable in this outing. Although, Larry exhibits some nice ballet steps moves and involves his fellow bears in a concert at the "Hotel Larry," a little more excitement and mischief would have enlivened the story. Blueberry muffins are bearly (pun intended) mentioned until the conclusion, when they are offered as a post-concert snack. Perhaps Daniel and Jill Pinkwater (or their new publisher) targeted a younger audience or stricter parents. It's true that Larry protests openly ("I think that is highly unfair") when Madeline Frobisher's ballet teacher, Madame Swoboda, refuses him entry to the dance boards {"this is a dancing class for children and not for bears"), but he accepts this edict. He learns ballet steps from Madeline (daughter of "Hotel Larry" owner, Martin Frobisher), gets Roy and two other zoo bears to practice positions, and finally invites hotel guests to "The Polar Bear Ballet Production of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears.'" The surprise that Larry promises to reveal at the show is either that he has written a prince into the story, or that the performers will enjoy blueberry muffins after the performance. The conclusion is fairly abrupt, leaving one as unsatisfied as a bear without a blueberry. Those who are not longtime fans will enjoy the recounting of the bears' more mischievous days (although others may find the rehashing too familiar), and Pinkwater displays his typical narrative and cadence. Pinkwater intentionally over-writes his (long) sentences, as if the bears had learned English throsgh a phrase book. For example (and this is an oft-repeated, funny line used throughout the story), Larry tells the other bears the function of ballet as learned from Madeline, "We will learn to tell a story and express feelings through movement!" Jill Pinkwater draws colorful, humorous pictures, showing the dancing bears in enthusiastic dance poses, but they don't seem quite as vibrabt as in some of the other books. This is a good book for fans of bears, dance, and dancing bears, and Pinkwater's signature writing style is always a joy. I suggest, however, that you sample other books about Larry, such as "The Hotel Larry," and "Bongo Larry," or get Irving and Muktuk in "Bad Bear Detectives," perhaps the best in the Pinkwaters' two series of bear books. I'll give this book 4*, up from the 3 1/2* I originally gave it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dropped,
This review is from: Dancing Larry (Hardcover)
In reading Dancing Larry I can hear the authors voice. The illustrations and story are excellent until the ending. There is none. You can see the audience throwing flowers and clapping but... Then you turn the page the group is bowing and ...Finis. Who is the audience? Is the instructor present? What do the polar bears think or feel? What was Larry's plan?
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