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lorathelibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
I gave this such a harsh rating because it was just okay. I wanted it to be better. A novel told in verse, with funny moments, but dealing mostly with heavier issues like parents separating and homelessness. Spinelli did a good job of keeping the story light, but at times I thought more could be explained.
Short read, but I don't think kids will pick it up and just absolutely love it. For those kids going through things similar to Bindi (parents separating) this book deserves a massive gold star. For everyone else, just an ordinary book that will get lost on the shelf.
Short read, but I don't think kids will pick it up and just absolutely love it. For those kids going through things similar to Bindi (parents separating) this book deserves a massive gold star. For everyone else, just an ordinary book that will get lost on the shelf.
lynnmarie78's review against another edition
5.0
what a fabulous, fun children's book. 11 year old girl, best friends, hard times, sense of humor, and a diner with pancakes. It's wonderful.
book_nut's review against another edition
3.0
A sweet little novel in verse. Nothing earth-shattering, but nothing terrible either.
tami_provencher's review against another edition
2.0
The Dancing Pancake is the restaurant Bindi's mother and aunt open after her parents separate and her father has left the house. It requires Bindi and her mother to move into the apartment above the new restaurant; the restaurant, however, is still in their town so it doesn't require Bindi to change schools or move away from any of her friends.
Written in Spinelli's trademark free verse, there are some great characters in The Dancing Pancake: Bindi's friend Albert who is obsessed with bugs, Grace, the homeless woman who frequents the restaurant and Jackson, Bindi's irrepressible, much younger cousin. Spinelli does a good job of establishing Bindi's voice and her dilemma--one that is all too common for so many children stuck in the powerless, confusing middle of their parents' separation or divorce. Bindi's voice in the first third of the book is genuine and easily identifiable for young readers.
The problem with the book is that it tries to be too many things and consequently ends up succeeding at none of them. It winds up being just an OK story for Bindi--you stop caring about Bindi's character after the first third of the book because the homeless character of Grace enters the picture and all of a sudden you get a lot of details about Grace's appearance and outward behavior, but no deep insights. The author lets go of the deeper connection with Bindi to write in the "regulars" at the restaurant and never quite recovers it to the level where it started. As a reader I tried to follow where the author was leading me but I just got lost and ended up feeling dissatisfied with the plot resolution for Bindi and lack of resolution to so many other characters.
I like Spinelli's work in general, but I would recommend, instead, her work Where I Live, also written in free verse and much more effective in telling a compelling story about Diana, a young girl who is forced to move from where she LOVES living to a completely new place. It explores anxieties, new friendships and the premise that all change is scary, but isn't necessarily undesirable: all opportunities require courage and the rewards are tenfold!
If you are interested in the subject of The Dancing Pancake: dealing with separation of parents, I recommend instead Patricia MacLachlan's Waiting For the Magic. The main character is a 4th Grade boy named William and the catalyst for healing and understanding are 4 dogs and a cat.
Written in Spinelli's trademark free verse, there are some great characters in The Dancing Pancake: Bindi's friend Albert who is obsessed with bugs, Grace, the homeless woman who frequents the restaurant and Jackson, Bindi's irrepressible, much younger cousin. Spinelli does a good job of establishing Bindi's voice and her dilemma--one that is all too common for so many children stuck in the powerless, confusing middle of their parents' separation or divorce. Bindi's voice in the first third of the book is genuine and easily identifiable for young readers.
The problem with the book is that it tries to be too many things and consequently ends up succeeding at none of them. It winds up being just an OK story for Bindi--you stop caring about Bindi's character after the first third of the book because the homeless character of Grace enters the picture and all of a sudden you get a lot of details about Grace's appearance and outward behavior, but no deep insights. The author lets go of the deeper connection with Bindi to write in the "regulars" at the restaurant and never quite recovers it to the level where it started. As a reader I tried to follow where the author was leading me but I just got lost and ended up feeling dissatisfied with the plot resolution for Bindi and lack of resolution to so many other characters.
I like Spinelli's work in general, but I would recommend, instead, her work Where I Live, also written in free verse and much more effective in telling a compelling story about Diana, a young girl who is forced to move from where she LOVES living to a completely new place. It explores anxieties, new friendships and the premise that all change is scary, but isn't necessarily undesirable: all opportunities require courage and the rewards are tenfold!
If you are interested in the subject of The Dancing Pancake: dealing with separation of parents, I recommend instead Patricia MacLachlan's Waiting For the Magic. The main character is a 4th Grade boy named William and the catalyst for healing and understanding are 4 dogs and a cat.
hezann73's review against another edition
4.0
A realistic novel in verse that actually felt realistic. There are misunderstandings like those kids would have, good intentions gone wrong and it ends with hope instead of happily ever after.
Recommended for 4th-5th grade
Recommended for 4th-5th grade
pussreboots's review against another edition
3.0
The Dancing Pancake by Eileen Spinelli is a novel told in verse about eleven year old Bindi trying to cope with her life being turned upside down. Her parents are separated and she and her mother are moving into an apartment over a restaurant which her mother is running the restaurant with a family friend.
While I enjoyed the free verse style of story telling, the plot seemed rather derivative. There seems to be a glut of stories about single parents (usually mothers) running catering companies (or restaurants) while the fathers off having midlife crises. I'm thinking most specifically of the Regular Guy series by Sarah Weeks and Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff (review coming).
Besides the family drama plot, The Dancing Pancake has a bittersweet side story about a homeless woman named Grace. She usually has enough to order something from the fledgling Dancing Pancake restaurant but they usually give her something extra. Bindi, trying to find her own place in this new life she's living, befriends Grace and tries to do favors for her. Some of them Grace likes and others she doesn't. This part of the book is a far more interesting but understated discussion on homelessness and mental illness that the After School Special main plot.
Fans of Sharon Creech's novels in verse (Love That Dog and Hate That Cat) will probably like The Dancing Pancake.
While I enjoyed the free verse style of story telling, the plot seemed rather derivative. There seems to be a glut of stories about single parents (usually mothers) running catering companies (or restaurants) while the fathers off having midlife crises. I'm thinking most specifically of the Regular Guy series by Sarah Weeks and Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff (review coming).
Besides the family drama plot, The Dancing Pancake has a bittersweet side story about a homeless woman named Grace. She usually has enough to order something from the fledgling Dancing Pancake restaurant but they usually give her something extra. Bindi, trying to find her own place in this new life she's living, befriends Grace and tries to do favors for her. Some of them Grace likes and others she doesn't. This part of the book is a far more interesting but understated discussion on homelessness and mental illness that the After School Special main plot.
Fans of Sharon Creech's novels in verse (Love That Dog and Hate That Cat) will probably like The Dancing Pancake.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
4.0
The Dancing Pancake is a 2010 novel in verse by Eileen Spinelli. I grabbed it from the gigantic piles of new books that were ordered when my new library branch opened, for two reasons. One: I really like novels in verse. As I mentioned in my review of Pearl Verses the World a couple of weeks ago, poetry gives authors more freedom to convey important or difficult emotions than does prose. They're also a lot easier and quicker to read, and I can usually finish one within a couple of hours. Two: When I was a kid, my mom worked in a coffee shop, and I have such fond memories of running around like I owned the place. I thought this book might portray a similar experience, and indeed, I was happily thrown into the world of restaurant regulars, and the sounds and smells of cooking in the air.
Bindi's parents have recently separated and she and her mom have moved into the apartment above her aunt's new restaurant, The Dancing Pancake. As Bindi tries to make sense of her parents' separation, she experiences sadness and anger coupled with hope that they might work things out. She also interacts with the diverse cast of characters who work and eat at the Dancing Pancake, including her four-year-old cousin, Jackson, teenage waitress Ruby Frances, a homeless woman named Grace who eats meals in the restaurant, and a boy from school who might just be Bindi's very first crush.
The strength of this book, definitely, is in its characterization. There are quite a few characters, and yet none of them is flat, or ignored. Everyone comes to life, and as a result, The Dancing Pancake becomes a vibrant and interesting character unto itself. Bindi is a sympathetic and realistic character, and particularly appealing is her desire to live out the values she has learned in church and do the right thing by the people she cares about. I'd never read anything by Eileen Spinelli before, but I would definitely like to read more now!
I would also love to see more illustrations from Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, whose charming pen and ink drawings brought Bindi and her family to life in the white space surrounding each poem. I also absolutely loved the cover, and had only one complaint, which is that a plastic spider that figures heavily into the plot seems to be missing from the illustration.
Bindi's parents have recently separated and she and her mom have moved into the apartment above her aunt's new restaurant, The Dancing Pancake. As Bindi tries to make sense of her parents' separation, she experiences sadness and anger coupled with hope that they might work things out. She also interacts with the diverse cast of characters who work and eat at the Dancing Pancake, including her four-year-old cousin, Jackson, teenage waitress Ruby Frances, a homeless woman named Grace who eats meals in the restaurant, and a boy from school who might just be Bindi's very first crush.
The strength of this book, definitely, is in its characterization. There are quite a few characters, and yet none of them is flat, or ignored. Everyone comes to life, and as a result, The Dancing Pancake becomes a vibrant and interesting character unto itself. Bindi is a sympathetic and realistic character, and particularly appealing is her desire to live out the values she has learned in church and do the right thing by the people she cares about. I'd never read anything by Eileen Spinelli before, but I would definitely like to read more now!
I would also love to see more illustrations from Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, whose charming pen and ink drawings brought Bindi and her family to life in the white space surrounding each poem. I also absolutely loved the cover, and had only one complaint, which is that a plastic spider that figures heavily into the plot seems to be missing from the illustration.