Isadora Dances
Grade 2-4?Isadora Duncan was famous both for an unconventional, even rebellious, life and for a highly innovative dance career. Her departures from a conventional lifestyle are only hinted at here, but the author offers a few examples of how her subject's young life influenced her approach to dance and contributed to her unwillingness to conform to the ideas of the world in which she lived (1877-1927). The picture-book format is unlikely to appeal to children old enough to appreciate and understand the subject. The realistic illustrations are mainly done in watercolor, with a few black-line drawings that show Duncan's flowing dance style. Some of the watercolors overuse light and shadow, giving the figures an unusual look. The final picture of Duncan is stiff, as is the one on the cover where she is unattractively shown squinting into the sun. The performer's life and contributions to modern dance deserve a fuller treatment for an older audience. Young children may be disturbed by the accounts of the accidental death of Duncan's two children and of her own tragic demise.?Virginia Golodetz, Children's Literature New England, Burlington, VTCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.