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 4 1/2 * Josefina Javelina: The Pasadena Ballerina!
If you don't know Spanish (and I don't, unfortunately) a little research makes this book both more enjoyable and more credible; otherwise you just might think that Susan Lowell just make up the word "Javelina" so she could rhyme it with "ballerina" and "Josefina." Javelina is the Spanish word for a "peccary."
Maybe that's not enough explanation. A peccary, I discovered from an external source (wikipedia) is a relative of both the pig and the hippopotamus, and there are three major types, one of which is indiginous to the American Southwest. They have short tusks, travel in groups, look a bit like hairy pigs (hence all the hair puns in this book), and have absolutely no dancing ability.
However, that is the fanciful and fun premise behind the book, and provides several of the (repeated) rhymes. Josefina is a javelina who would like to become a ballerina--it's not gonna happen at the more rockin' "Oasis Bar and Cantina," so she packs her concertina, and heads out to Pasadena, where she meets her cousing Angelina!
The wordplay, though necessarily a bit repetitious) is great fun, and the puns, based on her hairy appearance (compared to the similar looking pig), borrow from Hollywood and other pop culture icons. I agree that most of these will be completely lost on most young audiences (e.g., Anna Piglova, Boaryahnikov--puhleease!), but it will keep the adult readers in the game. You have to accept some of the books premises--that one goes to Hollywood to become a ballerina (I suppose New York or Europe is too far away), and that a javelina has any inclination towards dancing, but in a kids' book these stretches work as long as the sotry is entertaining. Lowell ups the ante by incorporating some Little Red Riding Hood motifs: A fang-toothed talent agent is really a wolf in sheep's clothing. WHen Josefina and Angelina return to his office, he drops all pretense and chases them across the mean streets of L.A., winding up in a parade that seemed like it was taking place in Disneyland. OF course, Josefina escapes, the wolf flees, and after a triumphant recital, the homesick Javelina returns to her compadres at the Oasis. A muted last page of a howling coyote singing the blues is somewhat anti-climactic, a howling wolf would at least extend the earlier celebrity punnage.
Illustrator Bruce McPherson does a superb job bringing personality and verve to the Javelinas and their desert pals, and his "sets" are exciting--with plenty of Southwest atmosphere. As good as they are, however, some of the pictures feel a bit cluttered (it can be difficult to locate the animals mentioned in the text), and the foreshortened and otherwise distorted pictures of the chasing and then defeated wolf/talent agent are fairly difficult to make out at first. The book is a mishmosh of story elements, but the compelling figure of Josefina and all those "EENA" rhymes make this a good bet, especially for group reading.
 Just a wonderful book - a favorite in our house
This book is wonderful. I (Mom) like to read it almost more than I think my child likes to hear it - if that is possible. The book carries itself forward with silly, rhyming, ingenious wordplay. Josefina Javelina is our favorite ballerina (plays the concertina and goes to pasadena!). My 4-year old loves Josefina's singsong adventure.
An exceptionally fun story, with rhymes adding to the vivid, exceptional color drawings
Josefina is a javelina pig who loves to dance and yearns to become a ballerina. So she packs up her concertina and leaves for Pasadena to visit her cousin Angelina. So begins an adventure that ranges from the desert to the city as Josefina encounters Coyote with his wily tricks. Josepfina Javelina: A Hairy Tale continues to document the originality and storytelling talents of Susan Lowell that were so evident in her earlier picturebook from Rising Moon, The Three Little Javelinas. Bruce MacPherson's illustrations are lively, energetic, and in perfect syncopation with the adventure story as it plays out from first page to last. Josefina Javelina is a thoroughly "kid friendly" picturebook, entertaining and recommended for school and community library collections.
Delightful!
Josephina Javelina has a dream: to become a famous ballerina. After an invitation from her cousin Angelina, Josephina leaves the Cantina and travels to Pasadena to seek fame. Josephina has some wild times, misses home and must escape from Coyote and his predator, prankster ways.
Does Josephina find fame as a ballerina? Does she escape R. Ben Coyote? Who is Mr. Lamb? And will she ever see the inside of the Cantina again?
Susan Lowell has written a wonderful tale that children will enjoy reading again and again. I suspect they will laugh and giggle their way through the book. The whimsical illustrations by Bruce MacPherson will also add to the children's enjoyment.
Armchair Interviews recommends Josefina Javelina: A Hairy Tale
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