Flying Feet: A Story of Irish Dance - Tapa dura

Anna Marlis Burgard is an editor and designer of books for children and adults. A descendant of the McCloskey chieftain clan, she lives on an island across the ocean from the Emerald Isle.

Leighanne Dees is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design and is a freelance illustrator and designer. She lives in Georgia.

Grade 1-3–Two itinerant dancers arrive at the same time in the Irish village of Ballyconneely in hopes of teaching the locals a variety of steps. Because the citizens can afford only one instructor, the two must vie for the position. One of them names a tune and the other demonstrates his fancy footwork to the accompaniment of a fiddle and whistle. The contest begins on a wooden door placed on the ground but quickly moves to the lid of a barrel, then atop a stone wall. A crowd slowly gathers as the excitement and tension of the competition build. The two men appear to be equally talented until one of them climbs a roof and dances on the chimney, a feat that is shown on a vertical flap. He is clearly the winner, and the community holds a bonfire dance in celebration and welcome. Illustrations in pastels and colored pencils adequately depict the events of the story but are stiff and do not convey the energy and motion of the dancers. Swirls in the drawings, intended to show the rapid movement of feet, also are used to show smoke and wind, so the effect is somewhat muffled. The text, set in small type and superimposed on the art, is sometimes hard to read. An author's note and a pronunciation guide for the few Gaelic words used are appended.– Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI
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