Hip-Hop Lollipop

It’s bedtime, but a girl named Lollipop can’t stop “dancing hip-hop.” Carrying a little yellow boom box and accompanied by an equally enthusiastic cat and dog, she bops through the house, “Dancing down the long hall,/ Bouncing off the tall wall.” She stops by her big sister’s room, where Tasha, a fan of techno, is dancing, too (“She glides heel-to-toe in slo-mo”). Together, in a scene that exudes sisterly solidarity and silliness, the two brush their teeth to the beat: “Head rotation./ Jubilation!” Eventually even Lollie runs out of steam, and some good-natured parenting sends her slipping into bright yellow pajamas and snuggling between the covers, dreaming of dances to come. The text by Montanari (My Dog’s a Chicken) isn’t rap, but it doesn’t need to be—its catchy musicality and rhythm pay fitting tribute to a girl with boundless energy. Watercolor and ink drawings by Pinkney (On the Ball) are ecstatically impressionistic: lines curve and arc, characters defy gravity, and with swirling pastel streaks embellishing every scene, the whole house feels like it’s in perpetual motion. Ages 3–7. [em]Author’s agent: Erzsi Deak, Hen&Ink. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Oct.) [/em]