Splashdance
A Picture Book
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Picture Book Winner of the 2016 Social Justice Literature Award
Ursula, a bear, and Ricardo, a human, are preparing for the water ballet competition, where the prize is a million dollars! But a new regulation at the community pool--no bears--leaves Ursula cut from the contest. Luckily, she encounters a group of undaunted animal swimmers at a local pond, and Ursula and her new team figure out a way to participate in the competition and make sure everyone is welcome at the pool once and for all. Filled with deadpan humor, adorable animals, and big themes about social justice and inclusion, Liz Starin's picture book Splashdance is a fun and splashy summer story with a lot of heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What starts as a loopy tale about an interspecies water ballet competition gradually reveals itself to be a call for solidarity and resistance in the face of injustice. Ursula, a polar bear, and her partner Ricardo, a human, have "trained and trained" to win the water ballet championship and its $1 million prize. But when the swimming pool suddenly banishes bears for being "too hairy," Ricardo unceremoniously dumps Ursula for a giraffe. Despondent at first (she "cried for a week" under her kitchen table), Ursula joins forces with a new multispecies group that stands by its bear members. With a little subterfuge, they win the biggest prize of all: reopening the swimming pool to everyone. Whether the action is underwater or on dry land, Starin (Roar!) has a loose, offhand style and gentle wit that invite readers to dive headfirst into a world where rhinos wear bikinis and water ballet moves include the "Mary Lou Boogaloo" and "Half Twist Chanterelle." Ursula, with her ability to turn personal betrayal into collective triumph, may remind adult readers of the heroines of ShondaLand. Ages 4 7.
