It should be pretty obvious by now that I am a big believer in the importance of movement in early literacy. I’ve written about movement in story times before, and my first picture book, Wild One, was written specifically to get little ones up and moving around. So when author Valerie Bolling reached out to let me know about her new picture book Let’s Dance!, I knew it would be right up my alley! As always, I receive no compensation for any of my reviews, and I do not make any commissions from purchases you might make through links in my posts. I share picture books entirely for the fun of it!
Now just listen to this description: Tap, twirl, twist, spin! With musical, rhyming text, author Valerie Bolling shines a spotlight on dances from across the globe, while energetic art from Maine Diaz shows off all the moves and the diverse people who do them. From the cha cha of Cuba to the stepping of Ireland, kids will want to leap, dip, and zip along with the dances on the page!
I mean, could a book be any more perfect for me? Musical, rhyming text? Energetic art? A diverse celebration of movement? I’ll take it all!
Let’s Dance! would make for a fantastic read-aloud – the text is spare and bouncy, and has a great rhythm to it, which definitely matches the musical theme. And as other reviewers have noted, dance is one of those great themes that resonate across cultures, around the world and throughout history. Our musical styles and costumes might differ and our moves might vary, but wherever we are from, and wherever we live, we are all drawn to dance.
The fun illustrations are wonderfully, naturally diverse – we have children of all different colours and shapes and sizes, we even have a wheelchair-using young dancer, which is a delightful inclusion. Dance truly is for everyone – no matter how you look or how you move, if the music speaks to your soul, then you can dance!
There’s also a brief informational section at the back of the book that introduces the different styles of dance included in the text, and includes several dances that were new to me. I love it when a picture book teaches me something new!
A big thank you to Valerie for sending me a copy of her beautiful new book, and I definitely recommend checking it out and hosting your own at-home dance party!