Ali and the Sea Stars

PreS-Gr 2--"Ali was a sister and a seashell spotter. She was a boogie boarder, a beach bather, and a friend to everyone in Breezy Beach. Best of all, Ali was...a dancer, a singer, and an actor." Or that's the plan. Right now, Ali's a young girl with big dreams that far outstrip her use of a wheelchair. Yes, Ali in the picture book is real-life Broadway and television star Ali Stroker's engaging, exuberantly illustrated alter ego, and although Reid's illustrations show Ali's wheelchair on the beach, onstage, and everywhere Ali goes. Her identity never mentioned in the narrative until the author's note. The main character decides that her future performance goals need not wait and puts on a show, with friends and family taking on the parts of Peter Pan, including Dad as Tinkerbell. A mostly white cast, with a minor show of diversity in supporting roles, throws themselves into the performance, despite a gullywasher of a rainstorm and lots of imagination for some last-minute stagecraft. VERDICT Dazzling beach bright colors and an action-packed plot match the wattage of the storytelling and its star, sure to win applause.--Kimberly Olson Fakih

Tony Award winner Stroker (The Chance to Fly), the first actor who uses a wheelchair to appear on a Broadway stage, makes her picture book debut with the story of a girl who works to immediately realize her dream of being a theater-world triple threat. Deciding not to wait for "someday," pink-skinned, blond-haired Ali, who uses a wheelchair and considers herself "a sister and a seashell spotter" as well as a "DANCER, a SINGER, and an ACTOR," stages a free production of Peter Pan on her beach town's boardwalk. She casts herself in the title role, Dad signs on to play Tinker Bell, and a group of friends with varying skin tones joins in. When the sky turns dark and a momentary downpour soaks the cardboard set, Ali refuses to postpone, cobbles together a new set from beach paraphernalia, and leads her fellow "Sea Stars" to a boffo performance. Reid's (Peanut Goes for the Gold) unlined digital illustrations lend a sweet-natured, heart-on-their-sleeve vibe to this energetic portrayal of a theater kid kindred spirit. An author's note includes a photo of Stroker starring as Annie at age seven. Ages 4-8. (May)