Katy Duck And The Tip-Top Tap Shoes

Katy Duck

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Henry Cole (Illustrations)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. When the new student in Katy Duck's ballet class makes a tapping sound, the music stops and everyone looks at her feet.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

24 pages, Library Binding

First published December 15, 2012

About the author

Alyssa Satin Capucilli was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, and pursued her interest in dance, becoming a professional dancer and dance instructor. Though Capucilli had written stories, poems, and even puppet shows as a child, she didn't consider a career as a writer until after her own two children were born. To this day she sees herself as both a dancer and a writer, and the two professions complement each other nicely: dancing is, in her words, “telling stories in another way,” and readers of her children's books can attest to the rhythm of her language. Since 1994, she has written more than 15 books for children, and her work has been translated into French, Hebrew, Afrikaans, Greek, and Bulgarian.

Capucilli lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, with her husband and children. They have a chocolate Labrador retriever named Huckleberry, who likes to watch the author at work.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ballet vs Tap Dance! But Katy will set everything right!

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

~ borrowed from the Library

KATY DUCK AND THE TIP-TOP TAP SHOES is at the 1st Grade Reading Level. This book has 266 words in a VERY large kid-friendly font.

Now I've only read two books in the KATY DUCK series and I definitely like this one better. The story is about the new girl in ballet class. To everyone's surprise the new duck, Alice, is wearing tap shoes. And like Katy loves her tutu and ballet shoes, Alice Duck looooves her tap shoes. And Katy thinks they're cool too.

The teacher however thinks they are inappropriate, which creates a dilemma, which Katy solves!

I love the compassion that Katy shows for Alice and the fact that the two share their love of dance. Positive messages all around. Now for text...

What surprised me about the book was the vocabulary. I checked two sources to confirm that this was indeed a book at the First Grade Reading level. Here's some sample text from two pages:

Tap! Tap! Tap!
It was Alice Duck!
Alice Duck had tap shoes.

The tap shoes were black.
They were very shiny.
They made tapping sounds!
Tap! Tap! Tap!


On one level it's great practice as you have variations of words for children to practice with. You have TAP and TAPPING, for example. There just seem to be a lot of adjectives. But try it and see.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

really cute story. nice pictures. big font for a beginning reader.

[Mely · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an entertaining book for my little Twinkle Toes. A fun story about friends and the love of dance. A great early readers book. Very simple and clear text, even my 3.5-year-old was able to read along.

[Emily Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beginning reader book. A variety of useful words as well as a fun story about making new friends. Quirky Katy Duck is a wonderful story to encourage young readers to read.
Beginning Reader

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My oldest daughter's name is Katy, so I wish these books would have been around when she was little.

[Jessica Calaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading age
4 - 6 years

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very cute 'girly' level 1 book. repetitive words but not in a boring way. this story also introduces young readers to 'welcome' new friends and sharing. Katy Duck is in her ballet class and a new girl comes. Katy wanted to get to know her better; but she makes strange sounds with her shoes! The dance teacher tells Alice that this is ballet class and not tap class. Alice is a little upset and not sure of herself. But Katy comes and offers to let Alice borrow her extra set of ballet shoes! And after class Alice shares her tap shoes with Katy... very nice story of becoming friends and sharing.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's surprisingly hard to find books about tap dancing for young readers. My offspring particularly enjoys this one because the ducks try on and talk about the differences between ballet shoes and tap shoes. It's less pink that most dance books and features some male dancers (albeit in the background), so I appreciate that.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

two duck take a ballet class but one doesn't want to take off her tap shoes but the other really encourages her to try ballet shoes. She agrees and then later lends the other her tap shoes. Cute.