Flying Feet: A Mud Flat Story

Mud Flat

by James Stevenson

What's that noise? Is it a bunch of giant woodpeckers? No, it's the amazing tap-dance team of Tonya and Ted, who've come to Mud Flat to produce a big dance extravaganza.
And now that they've soft-shoed their way into town, all the residents are eager to fork over plenty for tap-dance lessons. How else will they become stars?

Genres: Chapter Books, Fiction, Picture Books, Animals

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads databse.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the residents of Mud Flat take dancing lessons from a traveling pair of hoofers, but the real fun begins when they decide to put on a show. A cute enough story, though not particularly memorable.

[Kayla Fleshman]

This was the first picture book I've seen with chapters, but I think it is good that they are there to introduce young children to the level of chapter books. I also liked that this book had the under lying message of not trusting strangers, but I also like the theme of letting the show go on. The animals had done so much practice to let it all go to waste and they ended up staying hopeful and having a great show.

[Gayle Turner]

Sweet.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither of us felt this was all that great to be honest. The best part about the book was that the pages were numbered. (I hate to say that but it's true.) Most childrens books do not have numbered pages and while most are read in one sitting it still irks me.
This book is 48 pages and for whatever reason the author decided to break them up into chapters. I guess it *sort of* works with this story but it really isn't needed and that bothered me. I just don't see the point in it myself.
The story itself is about a town that comes running (and paying!) when two tap dancers come to town offering classes. The residents of the town not only have to pay for these classes but they must rent shoes, sell tickets, etc. Basically, they must do anything that will fatten the tap dancers pockets.
One day the would-be dancers arrive to find the pros gone. Instead of getting depressed Stan, one of the residents, decides that they'll have their very own big show anyway.
Nearing the end of the show two surprise guests show up and while this was pretty much expected by any adult a child wouldn't see it coming and it would be a surprising twist.
I didn't really care for the illustrations and while there were a few discussion openers (the pro tap dancers doing what they did, the way the town's residents didn't give up, etc.) it kind of fell flat to me.

[Gladys]

When I was flipping through it at first, I noticed it was structured like a little chapter book. The book itself is not even long, but the scenes are divided in little chapters, which I thought was neat for a picture book. (Right away, I would say to give this to a child who might want to read more “lengthy” books? Or maybe get them started on little chapter books like these.) I really liked how the text and the drawings were structured in this book. It was spaced out, filling out the pages, and matching text with pictures. It kept you “visually entertained”. There was always something to look at. It had a little bit of humor like when they all crash into each other when they were trying to learn how to tap dance. I even found myself sneaking a little “aww” type of reaction when Stan said, “Nobody ever claps for lemonade.” I couldn’t believe that Tonya and Ted were con people and had just tricked these people, I mean animals, out of their money! Those sneaky mice! As you can see, it was an entertaining read, even for me. It had nice little lessons, the mice aka the “bad guys” learned their lesson. They became good people in the end. The good guys made a win situation out a lose one by putting on their own show and not getting angry. Even the grumpy man was somewhat placed in a “content” situation in the end.

[Cierra Garrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught my eye because of the title. I danced all through preschool, elementary, and high school so I love anything that can incorporate that. I would suggest this book for 2nd or 3rd graders because it's a bit longer, and has "chapters". This might be a book that you take 2 days to read. A good stopping place could be when all of the people in Mud Flat wake up to their dance instructors, Tonya and Ted fleeing town. You could spend time asking the class about a time they felt let down, and how they handled it, followed by having them predict how they thought the story might end. In the end, the dance show goes on without Tonya and Ted, and ends up being even better than if they would've been there! After reading this story I would have the students do a writing assignment about a time that something went wrong for them, but in the end, resulted in something better than they could've imagined in the first place. This could be a good assignment for their daily journals, or something of that sort,

[Char Hight · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations weren't all that great. The medium was mostly pencil drawing and water colors. The story plot moved really quickly but was a little confusing at first. This book would be labeled as a transitional reader book according to the criteria of Fountas and Pinnell:

small print size
variety of fonts and text patterns
story has episodes
has a problem and solution (dance instructors took money for dance lessons leading up to a performance, but disappeared late night the day before the show)
dialogue
characters are beginning to develop

Classroom use:

Literary Element: figurative language and word play (the sounds of the tap shoes)
Read aloud: literary element (conflict-characters want to learn how to dance and want to perform in the "Big Show" but end up giving their money con artist in disguise) & theme (trickery)
Independent read: students whom are transitioning from early readers/students whom have an interest in fine arts such as dancing and singing

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly, in a get on board the fun kind of way, with a bit of an ethical twist.