Cesaria Feels the Beat

April 15, 2024
A Deaf dancer learns to assert herself. Preparing for the Carnival dance, Cesaria blissfully twirls barefoot on the beach: "She sings lyrics with her fingers. She raises her hands to the sky, to the birds, to the clouds." When it's time to perform, she dons her peacock costume: tutu, feathers, headdress...but no shoes (the better to feel the beat of the music). Perfect! But the director doesn't think so. Though Cesaria protests that peacocks don't wear shoes, he insists she wear them. Dismayed, Cesaria escapes to the shore: "The Earth radiates its heartbeat through her bare feet. Its tempo tickles her toes." Reluctantly, she decides she can't let down the other dancers. But when she rejoins her troupe, the Earth feels too still beneath her sandal-clad feet. Cesaria freezes, too...until she feels a sea breeze. Moved by "music only she can hear," Cesaria "flaps her wings, stands proud," and kicks off her shoes, urging her troupe to do likewise in a triumphant finale. Lyrical text evokes the rhythm of Carnival drums and lapping waves. Soares, who herself has hearing loss, poignantly expresses Cesaria's joy, frustration, and pride. Lush jewel tones convey the bustle of Carnival and the peace of Cesaria's beloved seashore. All characters are Black, with varying shades of brown skin; the setting appears to be Brazilian. An author's note explains that the book was inspired by the experiences of Adusei's Deaf cousin. A vibrant, poetic celebration of Deafness, dance, nature, and self-advocacy. (Picture book. 4-8)

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May 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 *Starred Review* Cesaria, bright and barefoot, feels the beat of her seaside world through her feet. For a Carnival performance, though, her dance-team teacher wants the Deaf little girl to wear the blue sandals matching her feathery peacock costume. Cesaria first signs ""no."" She is fiercely sure she won't be able to be her best, the way she is when feeling sand and salt spray and nature's touch. Finally, she succumbs to her friends' pleas, yet facing a crowd of anxious faces, she can't truly dance until she feels the ocean breeze across the stage, because the music's drum tempo is lost to her. Finally kicking away the sandals, she signs, ""Peacocks wear no shoes,"" and her teammates catch on, also stepping away from their footwear as ""the Earth radiates its heartbeat through their bare feet."" Adusei's text communicates brilliantly the way the hearing impaired and Deaf experience music, as well as the way other senses convey rhythm. Meanwhile, Soares' illustrations use the pure colors of Carnival--azure, deep purple, and a saturated yellow--to convey the story's joy. A lovely book about a child who experiences the world in an atypical way that readers will readily understand. For all collections.

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Starred review from June 1, 2024

Gr 1-5-Cesaria, a child with brown skin and a puffy bun of brown hair, feels the beat in her feet. "She sings lyrics with her fingers." As the time approaches for her to join the Carnival crowds with her dance troupe of other small girls, she refuses to put on the shoes that the leader says are part of the peacock costume. She can't. She runs away to the water and whispers to the ocean: "No one understands." The understated text has mentioned that she signs to others, but this is the only indication that Cesaria is Deaf. "The Earth radiates its heartbeat through her bare feet. The tempo tickles her toes. She moves to music only she can hear." How to explain this? Cesaria has dignity. She cannot let down her "pride." She returns to the troupe and by signing that peacocks do not wear shoes, kicks hers off and the others do, too. It's a tremendous demonstration of allyship and connection that seems to rise organically from the moment. Those around Cesaria have a rudimentary knowledge of sign language, and the illustrator, who experienced hearing loss, works this seamlessly into the art. Fantastic oil paintings show a child pensive and joyful; they are also impressionistic snapshots of the boisterous Carnival. In text and art, the personal and the universal marry with ease. VERDICT This is a picture book to enter with an open heart and share widely. It invites everyone into a celebration of dance, life, and being true to oneself.-Kimberly Olson Fakih

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 8, 2024
A Deaf child performer self-advocates in this triumphant Carnival-set work from Rosario Adusei and Soares. Practicing en route to joining her dance team for the Carnival celebration, young performer Cesaria “twirls barefoot on the grass, sand, and dirt.” Upon arrival, she dresses in her peacock costume, sans shoes—all the better to feel the music’s beat. Lip-reading the show director’s request that she don the costume’s footwear, Cesaria signs back, “No shoes... peacocks don’t wear shoes.” But she’s required to put on shoes to perform, and Cesaria acquiesces to support her team, even though “there’s no tempo to tickle her toes.” As the performance begins, though, she makes a choice that feels right—and quite literally kicks off a cascading effect. Paper, pencil, and digital illustrations employ saturated jewel tones to convey Carnival’s hues as well as Cesaria’s moves. Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Creators’ notes detail the author’s and illustrator’s connections to the subject matter. Ages 3–6.