Flora and the Flamingo
Contents:
You can communicate and become friends through dance -- or splashing around together in water.
The flamingo is a model of poise, form, and restraint. Flora, the little girl, is a model of curiosity, open-mindedness, willingness to try new things, and openness to making a new friend, even if it's a bird. Suspicious of each other at first, the two get to know each other through imitation and dance, and the seemingly uptight bird learns from the free-spirited kid to let loose and try a hearty cannonball jump into the water.
Interactive flaps help tell the story and underscore the two characters' evolving rapport, whimsically captured in author-illustrator Molly Idle's comic pink-and-white illustrations. A little girl named Flora looks as if she's headed for the pool or beach in her pink one-piece swim suit, yelow bathing cap, and maroon flippers when she comes across a pink flamingo, whose poses she begins to imitate. Their silent communication is suspicious at first, then builds to a friendly rapport and a shared dance, in which their pink bodies the bird clothed in pink feathers, Flora in a pink swim suit move in united balletic grace, culminating in an exuberant shared plunge in the water.
This is a fresh, clever, wordless, opposites-attract story in which a stately flamingo teaches a round-bellied little girl to pose and dance, and free-spirited Flora teaches the bird to lighten up. Interactive flaps add layers of emotion and communication to the tale, as the two characters with distinct personalities slowly get to know each other. It's pure fun with a mostly pink-and-white palette of spare comic images set against stark white pages. Families can talk about wordless stories. How does the author tell the story and move the action along by using only pictures? Have you read other wordless books you like?
Have you ever made a new freind at the beach or a pool? What did you do together without talking that helped you get to know the person? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners. See how we rate.
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Is it OK for kids to read books outside their reading levels? Column 4 Our impact report: How Tech Is Changing Childhood. Want personalized picks that fit your family? Set preferences to see our top age-appropriate picks for your kids. Flora and the Flamingo. Girl makes a feathered friend in whimsical, wordless outing. Molly Idle Picture Book Sign in or join to save for later.
No, Flora and the Flamingo is notable because it is a perfect amalgamation of wordless storytelling, likable or at least understandable characters, and an artistic sensibility that will make you forget its unique formatting and remind you only of the classic picture book days of yore. So forget what flamingos eat. Are you getting enough flamingo picture books in YOUR diet?
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If not, time to start. A single flamingo lands and perches on one leg beneath the falling pink blossoms. It does not notice the single flippered foot that appears behind it nor, at first, the bathing suited little girl that mimics his stance. But when he starts to stretch or is he dancing? In a moment of cussidness he bleats at her, causing her to tumble head over heel into the water.
Chastened, the flamingo offers a wing and the two embark on a fantastic dance, culminating in a joyous leap into the water and an elegant bow and curtsey.
Flora and the Flamingo – A Picture Book Review
Idle has the mark of the animator all over her. You can recognize an animator pretty easily right from the start. They tend to have very expressive protagonists. Take Flora, for example. Though at first she attempts to keep her face relatively placid, as the book goes on, a variety of emotions flit across her punim.
From a miserable mouthless hurt glare to a skeptical raised eyebrow, to gentle trust, and, finally, pure pleasure. The white background sort of clinches it. The laziest kind of picture book is the kind that feels like it began life as a serious of quick sketches tacked up on a wall somewhere. Storyboarding has its place in the world, but it is not an effective way to map out a picture book.
A Caldecott Honor Book In this innovative wordless picture book with interactive flaps, Flora and her graceful flamingo friend explore the trials and joys of. Editorial Reviews. www.farmersmarketmusic.com Review. A Look Inside Flora and the Flamingo. flora01 · Click here for a larger image · Click here for a larger image · flora
There has to be a flow and a relationship between the pages. Idle achieves that feeling, and the reward is a tale that is as emotional as it is visual. Idle does something particularly striking with the book that many an early 21st century reader might notice.
Flora is certainly an everygirl, and in no way is that more evident than her weight. Certainly the contrast between her and the flamingo is set off by their different appearances more on that soon , but you could also argue that by giving her heroine a little more meat on her bones, Idle makes Flora easier to identify with. There are lots of overweight kids in America right now. The unspoken ha ha — there are no words in this book irony here is the fact that flamingos are not usually considered unusually graceful birds.
Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
Where he is all knobby knees and thin curled neck, she is circles and smiles. His elegant pink feet bear nothing in common with her ginormous brown flippers. This dichotomy is the striking difference that gives the book its visual kick in the pants. The white background and pink apple blossom-like flowers that frame the edges of the pages are perfectly suited to focus your attention on the bird and the girl.
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The flaps are just the icing on the cake. I probably should have mentioned it before, but Flora and the Flamingo is actually a lift-the-flap picture book. If you want a fun exercise in clever book design, read just the pages with the flaps. After he hurts her feelings the flaps are as far from one another as they can be.
The flamingo makes good and for the first time the two characters share a single, large flap. They dance and it all builds up to a gatefold in the book that can be opened to reveal the two cannonballing happily into the water.
She had the stuffed animal "Flora the Flamingo" at home on her bed when I arrived. The little flaps are a fun touch, but the book would still be great without them. Other books in the series. And finally something that is pink that is not just designed for little These lovely pink stylized illustrations make me want to eat sorbet and dance. We checked this one out from the library and adored it.
I could get a lot of good out of this book with kids, I can see it now.