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evaseyler's review
I love Raul Colon’s art and my girls (9 and 6) wanted to hear this over and over.
katherineg's review
3.0
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart is a touching and joyous narrative poem about a mother-daughter relationship. The narrator of the book reflects upon a childhood spent enjoying, laughing, and dancing with her mother through every season of the year. In spring, the pair enjoys dancing in the rain and “sassafras tea with lemon curls floating.” In summer, they dance across the beach, with kites and balloons tied to their wrists. In autumn, they dance in the leaves, and in winter, they make snow angels and drink hot cocoa. At the end of the book, we see that the narrator has grown up to become a ballerina.
Libba Moore Gray uses narrative verse that dances along through the pages in much the same way as the characters. Dances are described using a string of hyphenated words, creating a barrage of images and sensations in the mind of the reader that are appropriate to the season being discussed:
“When a warm spring rain
would come pinging on the windowpane,
we’d kick off our shoes
and out into the rain we’d go.
We’d dance a frog-hopping
leaf-growing
flower-opening
hello spring ballet.”
Gray also makes use of rhyme to add a songlike quality to the verse, as seen above in “spring rain” and “windowpane.” Another technique that is used to create interest and add rhythm to the text is the inversion of word order. The young narrator notes that they liked to “drink lemonade cold”, and “drink hot tea spiced”. In these examples, the word order is contrary to expectations, and thereby draws attention and interest to images that might otherwise not have been as intriguing.
Throughout the book, dance is used as a metaphor for embracing life. As the narrator states in the opening line: “My mama had a dancing heart, and she shared that heart with me.” The two find joy and exuberance in simple pleasures and manage to find things to enjoy year round. The book comes full circle after it addresses each season, and ends with the same line. As Publisher’s Weekly asserts, “Gray has crafted a genuinely affectionate, personal tribute to someone who embraced life wholeheartedly” (Amazon.com 2004).
While Gray’s text does much to express the vibrancy and love of the mother-daughter relationship, it is not complete without Colon’s artwork. Words describe a love for dance and good times, but these qualities are given depth and spring to life when we see the mother and daughter, gleefully bounding across the grass, their arms crossing together as they perform a dance in perfect synchronicity.
Colon’s illustrations were created with watercolor washes, colored pencils, and litho pencils, a mixed media technique that lends a sophisticated, complex beauty to the subject matter. An etching technique is also used to give the artwork texture and a sense of age and reverence. One gets the feeling of looking into the pages of a treasured scrapbook or photo album, as the images in the narrator’s memory come to life in the artwork. The feeling of the artwork is mostly one of warmth – even the white snow seems to have a tannish tint that exudes warmth and good feelings. Shadows are created using blues and purples rather than blacks, softening their impact. Backgrounds are less realistic, paying less attention to perspective and linearity than to the central human figures.
This book is a perfect choice for reading out loud and should be enjoyed by a wide range of children.
Libba Moore Gray uses narrative verse that dances along through the pages in much the same way as the characters. Dances are described using a string of hyphenated words, creating a barrage of images and sensations in the mind of the reader that are appropriate to the season being discussed:
“When a warm spring rain
would come pinging on the windowpane,
we’d kick off our shoes
and out into the rain we’d go.
We’d dance a frog-hopping
leaf-growing
flower-opening
hello spring ballet.”
Gray also makes use of rhyme to add a songlike quality to the verse, as seen above in “spring rain” and “windowpane.” Another technique that is used to create interest and add rhythm to the text is the inversion of word order. The young narrator notes that they liked to “drink lemonade cold”, and “drink hot tea spiced”. In these examples, the word order is contrary to expectations, and thereby draws attention and interest to images that might otherwise not have been as intriguing.
Throughout the book, dance is used as a metaphor for embracing life. As the narrator states in the opening line: “My mama had a dancing heart, and she shared that heart with me.” The two find joy and exuberance in simple pleasures and manage to find things to enjoy year round. The book comes full circle after it addresses each season, and ends with the same line. As Publisher’s Weekly asserts, “Gray has crafted a genuinely affectionate, personal tribute to someone who embraced life wholeheartedly” (Amazon.com 2004).
While Gray’s text does much to express the vibrancy and love of the mother-daughter relationship, it is not complete without Colon’s artwork. Words describe a love for dance and good times, but these qualities are given depth and spring to life when we see the mother and daughter, gleefully bounding across the grass, their arms crossing together as they perform a dance in perfect synchronicity.
Colon’s illustrations were created with watercolor washes, colored pencils, and litho pencils, a mixed media technique that lends a sophisticated, complex beauty to the subject matter. An etching technique is also used to give the artwork texture and a sense of age and reverence. One gets the feeling of looking into the pages of a treasured scrapbook or photo album, as the images in the narrator’s memory come to life in the artwork. The feeling of the artwork is mostly one of warmth – even the white snow seems to have a tannish tint that exudes warmth and good feelings. Shadows are created using blues and purples rather than blacks, softening their impact. Backgrounds are less realistic, paying less attention to perspective and linearity than to the central human figures.
This book is a perfect choice for reading out loud and should be enjoyed by a wide range of children.
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