Buonanno, Graziella Pacini. Dancing on Grapes.

Buonanno, Graziella Pacini.   Dancing on Grapes.  Boyd's Mills Press    unp $16.95  978-1-59078-833-2       elem        VG           

In this delightful picture book, the author is chronicling her own experiences as a child in Tuscany, where all the children participated in the annual ritual of dancing on the grapes to make wine.  There is a glossary of Italian words at the beginning, and Claudia’s situation is described ... she is a six-year-old child with a fear of heights who is finally old enough to do the grape-dancing with the older children.  The drawings are colorful and lively, and the text focuses on Claudia and her feelings as she participates in this ancient ritual.

The author’s note at the end of the story gives some background information about her own childhood, on which the book is based, and the old ritual of including the children in wine-making in Tuscany.                                                                        --Carol Kennedy