LULU THE UNSTOPPABLE DANCING DOG

How do you win a dance competition? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

Seeing her beloved human companions, “beautiful Belle” and “dashing Doug” (both are White), learning to waltz, Lulu the pug awkwardly tries to join in—only to be told by the mean teacher that dogs can’t dance. But then Stu, another pug, invites her to take lessons at the Underground Dog Dance Academy. Unfortunately, rather than going home to perfect her sashay and other moves, every day Lulu stops at a favorite restaurant for pizza…and so fails to impress at the next recital. No matter; there’s a Grand Ballroom Showcase coming up, and Lulu gets a second chance. This time willpower beats cheesy-greasy goodness (even when in mid-dance she spots a child chowing down on a slice at a nearby table), and she and Stu go on to terpsichorean triumph. Evidently not trusting her story to convey the message to young readers, Dimitrova has the apologetic dance teacher make it explicit: “I suppose I was wrong to judge so quickly. With practice and determination, anything is possible.” Caron’s illustrations, less wooden than the dialogue, pair off gracefully posed human figures (most White) and less-graceful, though elegantly clad, small dogs. Lulu is white and Stu is black…make of that what you will. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Too sketchy to really cut the rug but potentially appealing to pug (and pizza) people.