Dancing With Grandma (Rosemary Mastnak, Hardie Grant Egmont, $19.95 hb, ISBN 9781921288906) ****

Spare on words but strong on pictures, this delightful picture book for young readers is full of life, joy and warmth, and has obviously been a labour of love. The simple story of a little girl dressing up as a ballerina and then dancing with her jeans-clad grandmother develops into a joyous romp and ends with an exhausted collapse on the couch and a quiet read together. The setting is a very recognisable, average family home and Grandma is in the kitchen. But she is not so busy that she cannot spare the time to abandon the washing-up to have some quality time with her granddaughter. The cat and the dog, obviously much-loved family members, eventually join in the fun (the dog rather begrudgingly). The free-flowing watercolour illustrations extend the story to give young readers a subtext to follow that will have them returning to the first page for repeat readings to check out the subtle changes. The landscape format is perfect for the pace of the story, enhanced by the clever typography and design, and a generous use of white space. Highly recommended for children and their grandparents.

Margaret Hamilton is a former children’s publisher. She now provides freelance publishing services and reviews

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker