Horse & Buggy: Dance, Dance, Dance! by Ethan Long

Today's guest contributor, Anna Taylor, is the Assistant Head of Children’s Services and Collection Development Coordinator for Darien Library in CT. She's a co-convener of ALSC's Children's Collection Management Discussion Group and serves on YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Find her on Instagram @librarianna 

 “Horse loves to dance!
Buggy does not.
Or does she?”

Ethan Long’s new set of characters include a horse named Horse and a fly named Buggy. (However, the only mention of the fly being named Buggy is on the back of the book and as part of the title).

Horse is dancing! Horse shows off their many dance moves through comic-like panel spreads with bright backgrounds of yellow, aqua, orange, lime, and pink. A fly (or as we assume, Buggy) asks horse what they are doing and is confused when Horse says dancing. “I do not hear any music”, says Buggy. Readers are encouraged to imagine the music through Horse’s line “The music is in my mind” as well as the various dance moves, art panels, and dotted lines representing movement on each page. For instance, Horse is assumed to be dancing to the song “Singing in the Rain” on a spread with Horse kicking his leg with a cane in their hand while on an aqua spread with a raindrop pattern.

After showing off numerous dance moves, each with a different style, panel, and background, Horse asks Buggy to dance. Buggy says they can dance but is always making an excuse, “I just ate.” It isn’t until Horse brings in a boombox that Buggy happily dances…just in time for Horse to lie down and rest from all that dancing.

Ethan Long uses back and forth dialogue to repeat words:
“What are you doing?”
“I am dancing”
“I am the best dancer.”
“I have the best dances.”

Long also throws in some rhythm towards the end of the book to go with the rhythm of the music:
“So turn off that frown.
Start getting down!”

With the use of panels and speech bubbles, readers are introduced to the beginnings of comic books. The reader must look at both the text and the illustrations in order to fully experience the story. Long uses the entire book, including the end pages, to tell the story. The beginning of the book shows Horse dancing with Buggy buzzing around looking confused. The back end pages are an exact replica of what Horse did in the front with Buggy now joining in on the dancing.

Holiday House has leveled this book “Guided Reading Level G” which they put in the beginning of the Grades 1-2 category. This title is part of their “I Like to Read” books and offer supplemental resources to their books online. Holiday House has written that this book “Has been tested by an educational expert and determine to be a guided reading level E.”

It is unknown if there are plans to incorporate additional titles with Hose & Buggy although it is implied with the title formatting. Give this title to readers who want to start stepping into graphic novels. As for the Geisel Committee, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this title on the table but do think it serves a better purpose for the introduction of graphic novels than emerging readers.