Throughout the years, the love of dancing fills a woman's life. Whether she is dressed as an ear of corn in her first school recital or a soloist in The Nutcracker, her father is always there watching her and smiling. Years later, as he is dying, he asks her to come and perform for him once more. As she dances, she tells him that she has always danced for him. He tells her that she must continue to dance and that he will always be watching and smiling. This is a solemn, nostalgic story that will appeal to an adult audience. The illustrations are elegant, formal, and muted. Many of them feature the daughter as an adult-at her wedding and visiting her dying father. The almost phantomlike role of the father who never interacts with his child until the end gives the story an aloofness that may confuse children. Neither the art nor the text will keep youngsters' attention.
喜欢舞蹈的女儿不知道,她的爸爸一直都在看着她,从她小时候扮演一个玉米,到她成为台上美丽优秀的芭蕾舞者,到她恋爱出嫁,有了自己的家。爸爸一直微笑着看着她。直到爸爸生命最后一刻,舞蹈着的女儿仍然不知道,爸爸总是微笑地看着她。
这个故事的作者灵感来源于他自己的女儿,然而图画中的女孩确实却有其人的。绘者受画中女孩子的父亲所托为他画了女儿的画像,而这个女孩和母亲丧生于一起车祸。本书内外所蕴藏的故事与情感让每一位度过这本书的读者动容。作者的文字细腻深沉,绘者的图画更是显示出非凡的功力,写实的描画、凝重的色彩、潇洒的笔法,将这个动人的故事演绎的一如交响乐般宽广宏大。