Tallulah's Ice Skates: A Winter and Holiday Book for Kids – A Heartwarming Skating Story About Friendship for Children

Tallulah #6

by Marilyn Singer, Alexandra Boiger (Illustrator)

Tallulah heads out into a winter wonderland to go ice skating and finds out that having fun is sometimes more important than being the best, in this new, snowy addition to the popular Tallulah series. Tallulah is an accomplished ballerina, but she also loves to skate. After all, skating’s a lot like ballet—challenging, graceful, and glamorous. Tallulah is positive that with some hard work, she and her friend Kacie will be just as good on the ice as they are at dance. They'll be Super Skaters! But Kacie doesn’t want to rehearse fancy moves; she wants to have fun. So Tallulah practices by herself. That is, until an encounter with a talented boy, which ends with an embarrassing mishap. Then Tallulah begins to realize that sometimes having fun is more important than being the best, a needed message for today’s goal-oriented, busy kids.

Genres: Picture Books, Sports, Childrens, Fiction, Growth Mindset

42 pages, Hardcover

Published October 30, 2018

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Abigail]

That young ballerina Tallulah, whose story began in Tallulah's Tutu and then continued in four subsequent picture-books, returns in this sixth story devoted to her adventures. Heading to frozen Bluegill Pond with her friend Kacie, who was introduced in Tallulah's Tap Shoes , our young heroine is convinced that she'll be a super skater. But will her ambitious plans get in the way of having fun? And how will she handle it when she falls while trying her first spin...?

Like its predecessors, Tallulah's Ice Skates pairs an engaging, warmhearted narrative from author Marilyn Singer with beautiful watercolor artwork from illustrator Alexandra Boiger. Tallulah herself is a fallible young heroine, but one who is still essentially goodhearted, and just needs to learn things in her own time. She always manages to come right in the end, after some initial missteps, and this is no exception. The artwork here is really quite lovely, capturing the winter-time wonder of the icy setting, as well as the fluctuating emotional register of each scene. Recommended to Tallulah fans, and to anyone looking for picture-books about ice skating.

[Set]

Tallulah is so cute and pretty. I love her zest for classical dancing. This book focuses on her ice skating experience with her friend, quite similar and different from ballet.

[Robin]

I adore this whole series. Girly and sweet without being cloying, relatable characters, a struggle with self-concept v. reality, and a happy ending. Highly recommended for ages 4-6.

[Cecilia]

There was so much I liked about this book.

1. It acknowledged that ballet and ice skating were NOT alike, even if knowing one could help with learning the other.

2. The kid that knew how to skate well and tried to give Tallulah help was a black boy AND he never bullied her about her lack of skill--he just tried to encourage her and give her some tips.

3. The artwork was adorable.

4. The story and the art both capture a nice cool winter feel in just the perfect way.

5. Tallulah's name is so unique and beautiful. Usually with picture books, authors stick to pretty standard names, but this one did not hesitate to use a unique name (and NOT a "unique" misspelling of a common name). Very uplifting to see.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter]

This was the first Tallulah book we read and at a perfect time. My daughter was learning to skate for the first time and was being a little hard on herself. Tallulah experiences something similar, as she was hard on herself when facing the challenge of learning to do some fancy ice skating moves. Some great lessons in here about perseverance, as well as not letting perfection get in the way of enjoyment. The illustrations are very nice as well, and I appreciate that one of the main characters is a black boy who figure skates! Always great to see characters beyond those who are stereotypically told they fit into certain sports or activities. Thanks Tallulah, for helping my daughter have fun and be confident while learning to skate!

[Dannaca]

We read this for our Ice and Snow story time. This is a beautiful book! The illustrations are fantastic. Tallulah is confident that her skills at ballet will translate seamlessly to the ice...but she's quickly proven wrong. Her friend doesn't seem to want to practice with her either, content to bunny hop across the ice. This is a good story for any kids with perfectionist tendencies (speaking to my inner child, here) because it points out that there are things to work hard at (dancing) and things that can just be fun (ice skating). I'd recommend it for older kids because it's a bit longer for a young crowd.

[Christine (Tina)]

This series has quickly become a favorite for the grandgirl! She recognized Tallulah's imagination again in the illustrations. She also learned that ballet and figure skating, seeming similar with positions and grace, are vastly different and both require learning and practice. I need to find the other ones in this series because I received a scolding that there was only one Tallulah book this weekend!

[Little Heirloom Books]

My girls love the Tallulah books. She is an endearing little girl who faces similar challenges as any girl her age. She loves ballet and now she gets to try her hand at ice skating. She imagines that things will be just the same on the dance floor as on the ice. She wants to do more than just the beginning skating. She has to decide between friends and her pride.

[Heather]

This was my favorite Tallulah book so far. The little situations and feelings seemed so realistic and I enjoyed all the relationship dynamics: between Tallulah and her friend, between Tallulah and the new boy, between Tallulah and her mom and brother. Good mix between life lessons and enjoyable story.

[Jessie]

Several different threads here -- about practice being important, about some skills being transferable but there still being differences and things you need to learn, and about it being okay to just have fun.

And as with Tallulah's toe shoes, I really like that there's someone older and more experienced who is encouraging and constructive, even if Tallulah doesn't initially see it that way.

[Amber]

I don't know if it's just me, and also the fact that I didn't know this was part of a series, but it didn't feel developed enough. There was a conflict, but it was barely touched on and the resolution seemed so fast. I don't know. The was just something... huh? about this book for me.

[Ryo]

I liked the story. This story might tell children something are connected to each other so you should try many things, and you should not focus on just one thing. Also, I liked the text. The author sometimes changed the font, not italicized it, when she wants to emphasize them.

[Margaret Chind]

I already love the Tallulah series and the Kindle version is formatted very well for a picture book. Double tab to enlarge text and even has a specialty font like artwork. I will be reading more of them as available through Amazon Kids+.

[Kim]

Tallulah wants to practice harder things than her friend. She thinks she knows how to do a spin and a jump but doesn't execute. The next day, she goes back to the ice but doesn't want to skate since she didn't do everything perfectly.

[Amy]

I thought this was a sweet story with a great message about not having to be the "best" at everything you do but the power of doing something just for fun. I thought the illustrations were excellent.

[Amanda]

Oh, Tallulah. I love your dancing books. This one was as sweet as the others.

[Allison]

Very sweet and speaking on the importance of fun along with practice, it's a fun book perfect for winter.

[Anna]

Cute.

[Cyndy]

Such a cute book, Tallulah is learning to ice skate.

[Viviana]

4.9 stars

[Pinky]

Tallulah learns it's easier to start out with bunny hops for ice skating.

[Norkett]

A good lesson in knowing just when to have fun.

[Jo Oehrlein]

Tallulah is reminded that it takes practice to get to perfect.

And while some of her dance training is an asset in figure skating, she'll have to learn some new things for ice skating.

Also like the emphasis on having fun and not having to be great at everything. Sometimes it's enough to have a good time with friends.