Mary & Marcus : The Crazy Dance and Other Stories by Ursula Dubosarsky & Andrew Joyner

Mary and Marcus the crazy dance and other stories is a joyous romp of a collection of five stories by Ursula Dubosarsky all wrapped up in a big kid's 'chapter' book.

NOTE - Teachers of emerging readers - this book is perfect because there is a certain amount of repetition of phonemes as is required for decodable texts and further support through repetition of sight words and unfamiliar, introduced words. New words reappear in each story because each story is about the little adventures of Mary, the delightful but accident-prone panda and her best friend Marcus the snake. Fluency and expression will develop naturally from the sheer joy of these stories; there will be no need to prompt.

Click, Clack, Click! Cha-cha-cha! Snoooore! THUMP! Shesheessshelpsess, Oink! Mary is always in trouble and worrying poor Marcus who has to speed to her rescue after little calamities in each story - calamaties like dancing off the edge of the WHOLE world - well maybe just a cliff! The conversation between the pair is very engaging. Each little story is a plot complete in itself and Dubosarsky's warm, jolly narrative is perfect. Open any random page... every double page spread is a delight. 

Dubosarsky's text dances with Andrew Joyner's wonderful illustrations. What a great collaboration between an Australian Children's Laureate and local (Strathalbyn) award - winning illustrator!  With the credentials of its creators Mary and Marcus the crazy dance and other stories should be a book to place into the hands of young children...and it certainly is!

Open any page again and just look at the expressions on those faces! Marcus the snake wears glasses and who would ever have thought a snake could show so many expressions let alone be so delightful and caring! Joyner's drawings marry whimsy with reality. The typesetting by Kelli Lonergan is in Archer typeface. It adds charm to the already playful story and illustrations with the text appearing above, below and you never know where when you turn to the next page! 

Mary and Marcus the crazy dance and other stories is such a warmhearted fun filled collection of stories about friendship and taking care of your friends no matter how silly they are that it needs to be in libraries, bookshops, homes and in children's hands pronto. 

Highly recommended.

Themes: Friendship.

Wendy Jeffrey