Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect is an engaging tale about two cousins learning about theater and practicing for a play. Throughout the story, we see the cousins' excitement and anticipation for the costumes they will wear in the play but as they spend most of their time dreaming about dress-up instead of practicing their lines and dance moves, their enthusiasm for their potential costumes overshadows the things that would make their performances good. Through Mateo and Maria's failures (messed up choreography, lost scripts) we see the importance of putting in the work to do your very best. Jeremy commiserates with the children, confessing that he has also made mistakes and that mistakes are part of learning. Ms. Torres doesn't actually expect perfection, just that the children try their best and focus on the most important aspects of being in a play. In the end, Mateo and Maria come to understand this for themselves and learn that costumes will be there to help them shine but that it's their efforts that matter most. With bright, fun illustrations, and relatable characters, Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect is a fun book with an important message for children, Children will learn a bit about theater and what goes on behind the scenes in the production of a play and learn some Spanish words and theater terminology. A delightful read.

I enjoyed this story. It was a quick read, and I loved the idea of the questions at the back. Maria and Mateo wanted to act, but they were more focused on the costumes they would wear. Their lesson came from the teacher and an older participant when they struggled with dancing and their lines. This would be a great book for elementary children so they can learn about why practicing is important.

I received a copy through Netgalley, and this is my unsolicited review.

This is fun and cute and an excellent way to introduce children to the concept of a performing art. It teaches you that you can have fun while performing but it's even more fun when you practice!

Full review at my Substack link.

I received an electronic ARC from North Star Editions through NetGalley.
Early chapter book that introduces readers to theater production. Readers meet cousins, Maria and Mateo as they join a play's cast for the first time. They are obsessed with costumes and don't realize how much else goes into a production. After the first rehearsal, they are given assignments to practice before the next one. Sadly, they focus more on designing costumes than practicing the dance and their lines. This is a disaster at the next rehearsal. Both learn a hard lesson about the wide variety of parts involved in putting on a play. Terrific book to introduce younger readers to the world of theater. I appreciate the glossary included at the back of the book.

Thank you so much to Jolly Fish Press and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Maria and Mateo are starting rehearsals for the show, they are so excited and love the practise with Ms. Torres but when it comes to practise at home they find it not so fun and day dream about the costumes instead.

I really love that these books are not only fun but teach so much, from what it’s like to reherse a musical, but also to learn Spanish, to learn about dancing, to learn that making mistakes is okay but trying is what matters. It offers such a great lesson for young children reading the books but done in a really fun way.

I really enjoyed this one Maria and Mateo are such adorable characters so excited about everything but unable to stay focused on what matters within the rehearsal. I really liked seeing more after the first one being auditions and now first rehearsals, it was really fun continuing the story.

Theses books are really short, really fun, really interesting, have so much to offer. I think children and especially theatre children would really enjoy reading them, they are very cute and enjoyable to read, plus they have such beautiful illustrations within it showing what they are up to.