Mr. Froggy Pants is now done with dancing books and on to KNIGHTS! I didn’t find any straightforward knight picture books. Both of these poke fun at stereotypical knights, and though Mr. FP is still asking for them over and over again, his life ambition to be a KNIGHT! is still firmly in place.
The Knight Who Took All Day by James Mayhew A proud knight can’t get the golden-haired princess to pay attention to him. (Look carefully, and you’ll see her giving a handkerchief to the squire instead of watching the knight’s fighting.) The knight decides that defeating a dragon is the way to her heart. He looks all over without success. Finally, a dragon is seen ravaging the countryside. The knight primps for battle as the dragon gets closer and closer, dithering over armor choices until the dragon is at the castle. When he finally gets out, the princess, wearing his rejected armor, has already tamed the dragon. The princess marries the squire and they fly off for their honeymoon on the dragon’s back. It’s a fun twist on the classic knight-fights-dragon story.
Horace the Horrible by Jackie French Koller. Illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic Nobody is pleased when Minuette is sent to stay with her uncle, Sir Horace, while her father the king recovers from the flu. Minuette misses her daddy. Sir Horace wants to carry on defeating dragons, vanquishing armies, and rescuing damsels in distress. It takes Minuette all day to convince Sir Horace that feats of arms aren’t what she misses about her Daddy. Bright and expressive watercolors bring this story of the Power of Cuddles to life.
Lili at Ballet by Rachel Isadora This is a very basic book about ballet, which surprised me by being one of the two dancing books that Mr. FP asked for over and over again. Isadora, formerly a professional dancer, follows Lili through her ballet lessons – changing clothes, barre work, floor work, and combinations. Finally, she performs in her ballet school’s recital. The story seems to be a thin gloss for the technical description, illustrated with quite lovely watercolors. A ballet lover will eat it up and look for the other books about Lili.
The Alley Cat’s Meow by Kathi Appelt. Illustrated by John Goodell. It’s the swingin’ 1930s, in a world populated by truly cool cats. Red takes the B-train and Ginger takes the Catanooga Choo-Choo to that famous jazz club, the Alley Cat’s Meow. Sparks fly as they meet (the good kind) and their dancing wows first the club and then the world. Appelt’s rhyming text should appeal to the young, while Goodell’s detailed oil paintings make this a treat especially for lovers of classic swing.
Tessa’s Tip-Tapping Toes by Carolyn Crimi. Illustrated by Marsha Gray Carrington. Tessa is a mouse who can’t stop dancing – she’s even made herself tap shoes out of bottle caps. Her mother tells her to scurry and hide like a proper mouse, and Tessa tries, but she feels all wrong inside. Meanwhile, the owner of Tessa’s house has gotten a new housecat. Oscar loves to sing, but when the neighbors complain, Mrs. Timboni tells Oscar to be quiet and take naps like a proper cat. Oscar tries, but he feels all wrong inside. Then, one fateful night, there is a thunderstorm that results in happy tip-tapping, hip-hopping ending for everyone. The bright, angular illustrations – triangles for Tessa, rectangles for Oscar – bring together this celebration of dance and following one’s heart. Unfortunately out of print, but hopefully your library, like mine, will have a copy.
Once Upon a Mattress If you like old-fashioned campy musicals and revisionist fairy tales, take a look at this one. Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman star in this Disney version of the Broadway classic. Burnett (who played Princess Winifred in the original Broadway production) stars as Queen Agravain, the queen of a fairy-tale land who won’t let her 40-something son, Prince Dauntless, get married. What she tells Dauntless is that a real princess would pass her test, which is different every time. But Lady Larken and Sir Harry need Dauntless to get married. No one else is allowed to get married until Dauntless is, and Larken is pregnant. Sir Harry goes on a quest to find a princess who can pass the tests and comes back with Princess Fred (Tracey Ullman) a moat-swimming princess from the swamp. Since the story is based on The Princess and the Pea, we all know how the story will end, but Dauntless and Fred are racking their brains to figure out what the test will be and how to pass it. Burnett wears fabulous sequined outfits with elaborate headdresses that look like an unholy cross between 1450 and Las Vegas, and of course, still commands the screen. Ullman’s Winifred is charming and stubborn, especially as she’s complaining about how Snow White had a seven men (practically a regiment, even if they were short) helping her get to happily ever after, while she’s on her own. There’s enough sexual innuendo here to keep the adults chuckling, between Fred wanting to be “satisfied” and Dauntless asking his literally dumb father to explain the wedding night to him, even as it’s quite sanitized enough for the kids not to notice. All of us enjoyed multiple viewings of this romp of a movie.
Key of Light by Nora Roberts
Malory, an art dealer, searches for the first key in Key of Light. They really mean Key of Beauty, but I guess that didn’t make for such a good book title. Dana, a tall and foulmouthed librarian, searches for the second key in Key of Knowledge, while Zoe, a hairdresser and single mother, searches for the Key of Valor. You might be wondering where the romance and women’s fiction comes into all of this. Wonder no more: finding each key involves each woman acknowledging a) that she is really good at what she does and b) that she can safely let into her life the handsome, wealthy and devoted man who is wooing her. (It’s romance, so we must allow the people to have problems even if they are all heart-stoppingly gorgeous and will have only temporary financial difficulties.) They all have different reasons for feeling they need to be single, of course, so completing the quest involves Personal Growth. 
Roberts does a fine job of upping the stakes of the quest in each book, making each successive heroine work harder and be in more danger than the one before. All the characters appear in all of the books. The downside is that you know from book one which girl will end up with which guy, but on the plus side, the couple from book one isn’t just dropped after their book. Finally, there’s a strong element of women pulling together, as the three women are best friends almost immediately (but I’d have to say, if you believe the quest thing, best friends is pretty logical), working together not just on the quest but also helping with the romantic and job issues. I’d quibble with facials and toenail-painting as the most important method of female bonding, and I dislike the occasional use of words like “plunder” and “ravish” for consensual sexual activity. But all in all, this trilogy made for addictive reading.
Bananaphone by Raffi So often when I’m reviewing children’s music, I’ll talk about whether or not it’s solo voice with guitar. After listening to this album, I think what I’m aiming for is avoiding bad Raffi knock-offs. Raffi is basically the king of children’s music. In another artist’s voice, the silliness and seriousness would be insincere and make you gag. From Raffi, you find yourself singing along before you quite realize what’s happened. The title song, Bananaphone, includes all the banana puns you can think of, plus the groaner “It’s a Grandpa phone and a gramophone too.” There are is a nice song about the First Peoples, listing names of numerous Native American Tribes, and songs about organic gardening, silly rhymes and more. I would be the last person on earth to say that children need to listen only to children’s music, but if you want the Platonic ideal of kiddie songs, do put Raffi on your list.
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