Tracy Bermeo (a.ka. The A2Z Mommy) features I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina this month.
Welcome to the September
Read & Romp Roundup! Thanks, as always, to all of the contributors...and to you, the readers! Without further adieu, here are last month's submissions...
Angela at OMazing Kids added the picture book Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington to her list of "Fall Faves." Angela describes the book and provides a comprehensive lesson plan to go along with it. Yoga poses, breathing exercises, suggestions for music, and sneak peeks of the book are all included!
I'm so happy that Erik from This Kid Reviews Books joined the roundup this month with a review of the picture book Tap Dance Fever by Pat Brisson and Nancy Cote. Check out Eric's post to learn more about the star of the book -- Annabelle Applegate -- and how she just can't stop dancing! Erik also includes a link to directions on how to make your own tap shoes. Fun! In keeping with the seasons, Maria at Maria's Movers shares her creative movement ideas to go along with the picture book Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson and Buket Erdogan. As you might expect, Maria even incorporates real leaves into her ideas for this book! At Picture-Book-a-Day, Amy reviews one of her all-time favorite picture books about dance -- Angelina Ballerina! She also provides links to more information about Angelina, ideas for books to pair with this one, a hand print craft, and directions on how to make your own tutu!
The last few weeks have been a little crazy for me, but I finally have the November Read & Romp Roundup ready to share with you. Lots of picture books with winter and holiday themes this month, so I hope you'll enjoy the post. And thanks, as always, to everyone who contributed. I couldn't do this without you!
With Nutcracker season in full swing, Zoe at
Playing by the Book shares reviews of two Nutcracker books for children. First is
Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker, which is part of a wonderful series of ballet-themed books by James Mayhew. Zoe also reviews
E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker, which is illustrated by Maurice Sendak and was just re-released this year. Both are gorgeous books!
Over at Picture-Book-a-Day, Amy reviews the 1993 Caldecott-winning picture book
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully. As the title implies, one of the themes of the book is high wire walking. See Amy's post to learn more about the book and some activities to go along with it, including movement activities to practice balance.
Amy also reviews the picture book biography
Monsieur Marceau by Leda Schubert and Gerard DuBois. Born in France in 1993, Marceau is known not only as a famous mime but also as a person who helped save the lives of many Jewish children during World War II. Amy talks more about this interesting man, provides links to videos of mimes, and suggests movement activities to go with the book.
Amy always has great descriptions and ideas to go along with the books she highlights on Picture-Book-a-Day, and her post on Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring is no exception. Read her post to learn more about this book on the collaboration among dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, composer Aaron Copeland, and set designer Isamu Noguchi. Angela at Omazing Kids is sharing multiple picture books on her blog this month, too! First up is her favorite moose book to use when she teaches yoga for kids -- Agate: What Good is a Moose? by Joy Morgan Dey and Nikki Johnson. Click here to read Angela's post, see images from the book, and find out which yoga poses they might inspire.Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Grinch, right? For Angela at Omazing Kids, it seems that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Grinch AND yoga! Check out her blog post on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which includes yoga poses to go with the book, printable yoga cards, and links to other winter-themed posts on her blog.
Last but not least, Maria from Maria's Movers shares movement ideas to go along with the classic picture book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Her imaginative post will give you plenty of ideas for allowing your little ones to experience the snow, whether or not there is actually snow where you live!
Here, finally, is the Read & Romp Roundup for January 2012. I was thrilled with the response to my first call for submissions and think we have a great and diverse roundup here. Just what I was hoping for! We have picture books with themes of rhythm and dance, unique ideas for incorporating poetry and picture books into dance and yoga classes, and even a birthday celebration for a beloved author who writes about dance. Hope you enjoy the inaugural roundup!
Amy at
Delightful Children's Books shares a list of 10 children's books that entertain, inform, inspire, and broaden children's understanding of dance. Amy also created a YouTube playlist to go along with her post, including performances by Fred Astaire, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and more.
I hope everyone is enjoying Children's Book Week this year. If you've not heard of it before, you can learn more about it
here. The longest-running literacy initiative in the United States, it's yet another wonderful opportunity to celebrate the love of books and reading with the young people in our lives. And if you happen to celebrate by sharing a picture book during a movement class or by sharing a movement-themed book at home or school this week, I'd love to hear about it!
This is the official call for submissions for the May
Read & Romp Roundup, and I hope you have some great ideas to share. If you have a recent (or even not so recent) blog post that involves picture books or children's poetry AND dance, yoga, or another form of movement, leave your link in a comment on this post. I'll round up all the links and post about them together on my blog in a few weeks. And enjoy the rest of Children's Book Week!
Submissions are open until Friday, May 25, 2012.
Many picture books these days are considered "character-driven," focused on a loveable character who is introduced to readers and then usually shows up in a subsequent series of books.
Olivia,
Fancy Nancy, and
Ladybug Girl are a few you might be familiar with. In fact, all three of these characters are so popular that they each have an entire website devoted just to them. Wow!
It turns out that some dance books are also character-driven and have turned into a series. For instance, the very first blog post I ever wrote was called
Have You Met Katy Duck? It introduced readers to a dancing duck named Katy who has appeared in board books, a picture book, and most recently an easy reader. Katy seems to be dancing so much that I should probably find out what she's been up to and write another post about her soon. But until then...
All of this has me thinking that it would be fun to develop an informal blog series to introduce more picture book characters who dance. I don't think it will be a regular series, but as the muse hits me and as I learn more about other characters, I'll add to the series.
Are there any characters you think I should highlight? I already have a few in mind, but I'm sure there are more that I don't know about yet. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Hello Kerry,
We read an interesting book on exploring the outdoors on a raft. The book is called "The Raft" and is a great story about how a boy explores the river on a raft and the many wildlife that he comes across. I reviewed it here:
http://www.stackingbooks.com/?p=1749
-Reshama
www.stackingbooks.com
Thanks, Reshama! Glad you'll be joining again :)
Hi Kerry,
Here is my submission for April! Thanks! :)
http://mariasmovers.com/2013/04/01/polar-bear-morning/
Thanks, Maria :)
Reshema suggested I join in. We had a fun yoga book this past week, here's the link: http://toddlefast.blogspot.com/2013/04/say-it-two-ways-earth-day.html
Thanks for joining the roundup. I'm so glad Reshama suggested you stop by! I host the roundup each month, so feel free to stop by anytime you have a post related to picture books and some type of movement :)