Book Description
for How Do You Dance? by Thyra Heder
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
“How do you dance?” asks the title of a playful picture book that celebrates movement in all its zany forms. “Mags beckons. Koyo bops. Gilda flits. Aurora scrunches.” Anyone can dance! But, “I don’t …” says a brown-skinned boy who stands with arms resolutely crossed. The unseen narrator tries to convince him. All you have to do is “move a part, then move another.” You can dance for any reason, anywhere. Maybe you ate a delicious food, or you’re trying to cheer yourself up, or you’re waiting at a bus stop. Plus, you’d be in good company. “Dinos” dance, and so do “horsies.” Even dads! The story—which continues to return to the brown-skinned boy who insists he doesn’t dance—gets sillier, along with the dances, as it progresses. Finally the boy reveals his secret: He doesn’t dance “like that.” No—he likes to dance alone. The final, joyful page shows him in his bedroom, cutting a rug—and a bed, and a chair, and a bookshelf—blissfully uninhibited. Pencil and watercolor illustrations against white pages skillfully depict a large, diverse cast of characters and their individual styles of dance, from grand to goofy. (Ages 3–7)
CCBC Choices 2020. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020. Used with permission.