June Book of the Month: Giraffes Can't Dance

Giraffes Can’t Dance
by Giles Andreae, Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

Gerald is a tall, clumsy, knobby kneed Giraffe.  Every year all the animals are invited to a jungle dance but Gerald feels sad because he can’t dance.  When he works up the courage to go to the dance all the animals start to tease him.  So Gerald sadly walks away.  Then, a wise cricket tells him that it’s not that he can’t dance; it’s that he hasn't found his song.  So he closes his eyes, listens to the swaying leaves, and the whistle of the breeze and all of the sudden his body starts to gracefully move to the beat and he’s dancing!  When the animals are shocked to see that Gerald can in fact dance, he tells them, “We all can dance, when we find the music that we love.”

This is a great book to convey the message of inclusion and friendship to younger children.  It has a fun rhythm and rhyme plus colorful illustrations that will have your children asking you to read it again and again!

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PARENT & CHILD DISCUSSIONS:

This book has a red bug, a blue bug, a yellow bug and a cricket on every page. Help your child look for each of them every time you turn to a new page. 

Gerald the giraffe arrives at the Jungle Dance and the other animals tease him because he could not dance. How did that make him feel? What did the cricket suggest to Gerald to make him feel better?

Source: Scholastic: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/giraffes-cant-dance

CRAFT TIME!

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CLICK TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE THE HAND PRINT GIRAFFE.

CLICK TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE THE PAPER PLATE GIRAFFE.

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