Jake at Gymnastics

April 21, 2014
In this companion to Bea at Ballet, an equally angelic and ethnically diverse group of preschoolers attend gymnastics class. Their teacher, Dave, sets a playful tone (“Let’s be frogs and hop today”), and the boys and girls leap to the task, registering their enthusiasm in boldly colored speech balloons (“Ribbit”). Isadora’s spare pencil-and-ink pictures pop from the white backdrop thanks to the kids’ brightly colored clothing, created with collaged bits of oil painting. Isadora takes full advantage of the sport’s high energy as the young athletes crawl, swing, bounce, tumble, and jump. An early spread shows the children demonstrating various stretching exercises (side split, back bend, etc.), after which they try out different activities, including hanging from a parallel bar and bouncing on a trampoline. The story realistically spotlights achievements as well as slip-ups: a girl successfully balances on the low beam (“I’m doing it!”), while a boy topples during a somersault (“Oops!”). But it’s the kids’ sense of accomplishment and glee that readers will take away from Isadora’s slice-of-life story. Ages 3–5.

May 1, 2014
Jake and his friends love to stretch, hop like frogs, crawl, jump and tumble in their gymnastics class.In a creative segue from her books about ballet, veteran author and illustrator Isadora creates another collection of charming vignettes of a delightfully diverse group of preschoolers enjoying a similarly healthy activity. These kids are clearly having a lot of fun, and their teachers support them and help them to feel safe, especially when teetering precariously on the balance beam. The teachers also encourage creative and fun activities, such as hopping like a frog (the children croak and giggle), jumping on the trampoline, bouncing on big balls, turning somersaults, and finally spreading their wings and flying out of the gym like birds. The chubby kids' refreshingly natural postures and body language set this book apart from renderings of more conventionally pretty children, allowing young gymnasts of all ability levels to identify. Isadora's skillful faux naive pencil-and-ink drawings are enhanced with interesting textures in a rainbow of oil colors. Beginning readers will be attracted to the simple text, especially to the single-word exclamations in brightly colored speech bubbles.Readers will no doubt want to get down on the floor and do some gymnastics of their own. (Picture book. 2-6)

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