Tulip Loves Rex
(Tulip and Rex)

Little Tulip loves to dance. "While the other babies were learning to crawl," writes Capucilli (the Biscuit series), "Tulip was ready to spin." At the park with her parents, Tulip finds a big, yellow dog with a tag that reads, "My name is REX I am not quite like other dogs." Instead of playing fetch or obeying commands, Rex loves to dance, too. It's a perfect match, and Tulip's parents don't put up one iota of resistance: "A rather large dog named Rex who loved to dance? They didn't mind a bit!" This slip of a story, with its unnecessary lapses into lesson-imparting ("We all have something we love to do," Tulip tells Rex. "We just have to discover what it is") is greatly invigorated by Massini's (Trixie Ten) buoyant portrayal of her irrepressibly terpsichorean heroine. Whether Tulip is dancing on her bed (her legs just so, her arms arched gracefully in the air) or twirling through a tulip-studded park with Rex (who has some impressive Baryshnikov-like moves himself), she is the very picture of unadulterated joy. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)

PreS--Tulip loves to dance. Her parents are proud of their daughter, who is not like other girls. Instead of saying "Mama," "Dada," or "goo," the first words Tulip uttered were "whirl," "twirl," and "leap." One day in the city park, Tulip encounters a big, hairy dog with a tag on his collar that states, "My name is REX. I am not quite like other dogs." Tulip discovers Rex doesn't like to fetch or catch, so she tries to help him: "We all have something we love to do. We just have to discover what it is." When Rex begins to spin with Tulip, the reverse side of his tag reveals his adoptability and the child knows she has found her soul mate. The illustrations, done in mixed traditional media and Photoshop, reveal a small blond child who is happy, carefree, and constantly in motion. Though the text verges on the saccharine ("'It seems wishes come in all shapes and sizes, ' said Tulip, 'quite like love'"), young girls who love to dance will enjoy reading and seeing how Tulip's talents lead her to a kindred spirit.--Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI