Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance

Frances Dean is a little girl with a big love: dancing. Every chance she gets, she dances, teaching her routines to the animals fascinated by her twirling. Everyone loves to watch Frances Dean dance. There’s only one problem: as soon as she realizes that all eyes are on her, Frances Dean stops dancing. She can’t bear to be watched, to have her dancing noticed and remarked on. Her dancing is hers and hers alone. One day, however, she hears another little girl singing—beautifully and unselfconsciously—and Frances Dean finally finds the courage to share her dancing with others.

With sweet illustrations that give twittering life to the animals among whom Frances Dean is most comfortable, Frances Dean is both a unique story of a shy but talented child and a gentle reminder that not all children enjoy the too-frequent perform-on-demand requirements of being a child. Children will do what they love most when they feel comfortable doing it—and, like the birds who are witness to Frances Dean’s dancing from the start, their audience will be privileged indeed.