The Girl Who Wanted to Dance
Amy Ehrlich, , illus. by Rebecca Walsh. . Candlewick, $17.99 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-7636-1345-7
Both a haunting fairy tale and a parable for families separated by divorce or death, this lyrically rendered story also presents art as a vehicle for transcending pain. In a long-ago village, Clara lives with her silent father and loving grandmother, who tells her about her absent mother, a lover of music and dance. When musicians come to the village, Clara cannot resist their lure and slips away to the forest to dance with them at night; she comes close to joining them, but her father stops her—by coming out to the forest, recognizing his wife among the dancers, joining her briefly and forgiving her for leaving: “I understand you can’t come back.” Ehrlich (
Reviewed on: 01/26/2009
Genre: Children's