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  • Hardcover: $16.95
  • ISBN: 978-1-56145-109-8
  • Total Pages: 32
  • Size: 7 x 12 1/2
  • Language: English
  • Rights: World
  • Status: active
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  • Leveling Information
  • Accelerated Reader
  • AR Quiz#: 43499
  • AR Reading Level: 3.9
  • AR Points: 0.5
  • F&P (Fountas & Pinnell)
  • F&P Level: R
  • F&P Grade: 4
  • Reading Counts
  • Reading Counts Level: 3.3
  • Reading Counts Points: 2
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  • Color Info: Full color throughout
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  • Picture Books

Last Dance, The


Bessie and Ninny are the best of friends. Sometimes on milk-moon nights, Ninny throws buttons at Bessie's window. When Bessie peeps outside, Ninny sings: "Bessie, oh Bessie! Come dance with me! For I hate to dance alone..."

Bessie and Ninny are the best of friends. Sometimes on milk-moon nights, Ninny throws buttons at Bessie's window. When Bessie peeps outside, Ninny sings: "Bessie, oh Bessie! Come dance with me! For I hate to dance alone, Where the old men sleep, And the women weep, And the wild, fey children roam." Down the drainpipe Bessie slides to visit Ninny, and off they go.

Most nights, they visit the grave of Ninny's grandfather, Oppa. It was Oppa who taught them three things that they will never forget: To dance, to sing, and to tell stories. Oppa's wisdom ultimately inspires a pact between the two young friends—a pact that binds them together through love and marriage, war and separation, birth and death.

In the simple but extraordinary story, award-winning author Carmen Agra Deedy speaks to each of us about the value of promises and the limitless power of love. Share The Last Dance with someone you love.

Author & Illustrator


Author Photo

Carmen Agra Deedy is a New York Times bestselling author and has been writing and traveling around the world telling stories for more than twenty years. Her books, including 14 Cows for America, The Library Dragon, The Yellow Star, and Martina the Beautiful Cockroach have received numerous awards and honors. Carmen has performed in many prestigious venues, but children are her favorite audience. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the United States as a refugee and like most immigrants sees the world from multiple perspectives.

You can visit Carmen Agra Deedy’s website here.

Author Photo

Debrah Santini has illustrated a number of children’s books. She holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is a faculty member of the art department at West Georgia College.


Reviews


“This tale of love and memory, spun on illustrations as light and rich as gossamer, is a beautiful reminder that picture books are truly a form of art that speaks to the heart no matter one's age... The Last Dance is a book for anyone who wants to remember and to rejoice in the enduring powers of love.” ―Children's Book Review

“My young jury asked to have [The Last Dance] read to them again-and they got the point: 'Those we love are never really gone as long as their stories are told.' Debrah Santini's masterful sketches and watercolors tell as much as the text.” ―Robert D. Hale, writing in The Horn Book Magazine

“Deedy lovingly lulls readers into the intimacy of the reminiscence... Santini's watercolors, sometimes vague, mostly dreamy, enhance the feeling of events recalled through time.... Use this with older readers as a fine example of what family history can be. It's like a full cloth made from the remnants of people's lives, with all the humor, pathos, and drama that's necessary for a very effective, personal sort of storytelling.” ―Booklist

Awards


Not Just for Children Anymore! ―Children's Book Council 1999

Best Books for Young Teen Readers ―R. R. Bowker