BARN DANCE!
by Pat Hutchins & illustrated by Pat Hutchins
In this latest farmyard tale by venerable author-illustrator Hutchins, a horse, sheep and pig are inspired to dance but don’t want to disturb their offspring. Each winds up in a different difficult (and far-fetched) situation. Horse’s hooves pound the floor so hard that sparks fly and set the straw on fire. Sheep jumps so high, she gets hung up on a beam and Pig trips into the water trough. Their problems are solved easily enough, and each then lies down beside their little ones to sleep. The little ones, predictably enough, aren’t sleeping at all, so once their mothers settle down the three of them creep outside to dance all night by the light of the moon. Unfortunately, the rhymes are sometimes a stretch (“straw/more,” “rest/crept”), and the rhythm doesn’t have the bounce necessary to carry readers lightly over the more unlikely plot elements. Executed in gouache, the illustrations are bright and appealing though not always successful in conveying motion. Fans of the author may appreciate this effort; others will find it slight at best. (Picture book. 3-6)