Dance! Dance! Underpants!

Dance! Dance! Underpants!
(Ballet Cat book)
Written and illustrated by Bob Shea

My rating: ★★★★½

ISBN: 978-1484713792
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Date of publication: February 2, 2016
Age: 5 - 8 years

Themes: dancing, friendship, shyness, underwear, performing

Ballet Cat is getting her friend Butter Bear ready for her big ballet debut. "Leap, Butter Bear, leap!" Ballet Cat prompts. But Butter Bear would prefer to just point her toe. When Ballet Cat keeps pushing, Butter Bear gets hungry, then thirsty, then sleepy...The bottom line is that Butter Bear would rather do almost anything to avoid making a big leap. Why? Because people will see her underpants!

I admit, I enjoyed the first Ballet Cat book and wondered how this next one would compare. Turns out, it's even better! They fixed my main complaint of too many changing colors (pages, text bubbles, characters) and kept a more consistent color scheme. The color of the text bubble matches the character's color that is speaking throughout the book. The background colors still change, but are consistent through each scene.

The story itself is hilarious. I laughed out loud repeatedly. And the illustrations--they really helped the story with emotions and some spreads of text-less events. For beginning readers, the vocabulary and concepts are slightly more challenging, but I still recommend it to those just learning to read for the same reason I recommend Elephant & Piggie: it's great for understanding the emotions and character voice in text.

Overally, the humor will really appeal to its target audience (obvious, I mean, it's underwear!) and I appreciate the character voice. It didn't quite get the full five stars because the color choices are still rather vibrant (and sometimes distracting). But really, I do love them. Obviously, I was more excited about this second one than I realized, since I'm reviewing it well in advance of the release date. Basically, take this as an opportunity to go read the first one (if you haven't), read other Bob Shea books, or anxiously await this newest installment.

Pre-order now on Amazon
Or wait for it at your library

(Digital ARC provided through NetGalley)

Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret

Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret
Bob Shea

My rating: ★★★★

ISBN: 978-1484713785
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Date of publication: May 5, 2015
Age: 5 - 8 years

Themes: friendship, boredom, secrets, selflessness

Ballet Cat and Sparkles the Pony are trying to decide what to play today. Nothing that Sparkles suggests—making crafts, playing checkers, and selling lemonade—goes well with the leaping, spinning, and twirling that Ballet Cat likes to do. But when Sparkles's leaps, spins, and twirls seem halfhearted, Ballet Cat asks him what's wrong. Sparkles doesn't want to say. He has a secret that Ballet Cat won't want to hear. What Sparkles doesn't know is that Ballet Cat has a secret of her own, a totally secret secret. Once their secrets are shared, will their friendship end, or be stronger than ever?

Now, you should all know by now the absolute, undying love I have for the Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems. So this? This was an easy choice because they really are similar. I laughed out loud repeatedly. I loved the emotion conveyed through both the illustrations and text (and text format). And I love the message of friendship it shares. It's a fantastic story.

The only reason it didn't quite get the same high mark was the colors used throughout. Each page's background color, the text bubble's color, and even the characters themselves change color on just about every page. It was very distracting and takes away from the continuity of the story. But such is Bob Shea. Also, I fear that it might be bigger draw for girls—or their parents, if you know what I mean. But still, I give it a high recommendation.

Read alikes include, obviously, Elephant & Piggie, but also other friendship-based readers like Frog and Toad or the lesser-known Hippo & Rabbit (which is completely adorable).

Pre-Order now on Amazon!
...or wait for it at your library

(Digital ARC provided through NetGalley)