An Alphabet of Learning, Movement, and Fun!

Time to play and have some fun, 

trying new things one by one.

Are you ready? Are you set? 

Let's explore the alphabet!

As a lover of both writing and movement, I am always looking for children's books that truly integrate the two. The new picture book From A to Z with Energy by Connie Bergstein Dow and Gareth Llewhellin does exactly that, introducing young children to the alphabet while teaching them about the importance of movement and encouraging them to make movement part of their regular routine.

Image courtesy of Free Spirit Publishing

As the book goes through each letter of the alphabet, a group of children experiment with movements ranging from climbing, wading, and hiking to dribbling, kicking, and passing. Interspersed between all the movements are some equally important lessons on healthy living in general.

L is for a healthy lunch

that gives you fuel to grow.

M is for your muscles, 

from your head to your big toe.

As you can tell from the images above, the illustrations by Gareth Llewhellin only add to the exuberance emanating from this book. What a diverse and friendly bunch of children included on each and every page! From camping trips to sled rides to baseball games, the settings that Gareth created only highlight the point that movements can be done everywhere!

It might come as no surprise that the mastermind behind this book, author Connie Bergstein Dow, is both a writer and a mover herself. After receiving an MFA in dance from the University of Michigan, Connie danced professionally in both the United States and South America, and she has also been a dance educator for many years. She has written two books on integrating movement into early childhood classrooms and has published poetry in Highlights High Five and Highlights Hello magazines. From A to Z with Energy is her debut picture book, and what a perfect fit for her background!

Something that sets this book apart from many others is that it includes a six-page guide at the back explaining the physical and social-emotional benefits of movement and providing parents, teachers, and caregivers with a variety of movement activities to supplement those mentioned in the book. Half of the movement activities use prompts from the book, and half can be used alongside the book or independently. All of the activities are designed to use movement to explore the letters of the alphabet.

Now that I know more about Connie, the inspiration for this unique book and guide makes a whole lot of sense! Learn more about Connie, her books, and her ideas at her website, Moving Is Learning!

Connie leading a movement activity during a
recent school visit for From A to Z with Energy.

Book and Boogie in 2015!

Hope it's not too late in the month for an enthusiastic…..Happy New Year! Thanks for hanging in here with me, as I know my posts are sometimes few and far between. I'm happy to report, though, that I already have a couple fun posts lined up for the coming months. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, I wanted to highlight Book to Boogie -- a feature on The Library as Incubator Project website that I help curate. It's a monthly series that pairs picture books with dance and movement activities for preschool story time. The series already includes 19 posts, which means 19 great ideas for bringing movement into libraries, classrooms, dance studios, and homes!

I always try to feature the latest Book to Boogie posts in my Read & Romp Roundups, but you can also follow the series at The Library as Incubator Project itself. The mission of this wonderful project is "to promote and facilitate creative collaboration between libraries and artists of all types, and to advocate for libraries as incubators of the arts." This mission really comes out in Book to Boogie and the many other features on the site.

To entice you even more, here is a list of the talented guest bloggers who make the Book to Boogie series possible. Click on their names, and you'll see just how passionate they all are about integrating movement and the arts. Wow!

Jayne Gammons (kindergarten teacher)
Julie Dietzel-Glair (freelance writer and library consultant)
Maria Hanley (early childhood dance educator)
Amy Musser (children's librarian)

Jill Homan Randall (modern dancer and teaching artist)

Liz Vacco (dance, yoga, theater, and early childhood educator)

Read & Romp Roundup: July/August 2014

I just realized that August was the four-year anniversary of Picture Books & Pirouettes. When I was starting the blog back in 2010, someone asked me if there were really enough dance-related picture books to keep the blog going. I had done my research, and I knew that the answer was yes. But, as time has gone on, even I have been amazed by the sheer number of movement-related books out there -- those that contain movement, those that inspire movement, and those that do both. And they just keep coming!

If you check out the left-hand column of the blog, you will see some new releases, some books that have been on the shelves for a little while, and some others that will be published in the next few months. The July/August Read & Romp Roundup also highlights many of these titles -- a true testament to this special niche in children's literature. Thanks for helping Picture Books & Pirouettes keep going strong!

At Playing by the Book, Zoe hosted a summer picture book party that included reading, dancing, and creative cooking and crafts. One of the books she featured was Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance, which inspired Zoe and her daughters to dance with abandon, just like Frances Dean learns to do in the book!

Thanks to Cathy Ballou Mealy, I also found a lovely review of Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance on the blog The Illustrated Forest. The author of the post sums up this beautiful book by Birgitta Sif so eloquently in the first few lines of the post that I hope it entices you to read the rest. "Birgitta Sif writes books for people like us; she takes characters that are introverted and makes them brave; she makes them heroes in their own way, and if you are a little shy that is truly uplifting."

Kathleen at Wild Things Yoga shares a yoga lesson plan, perfect for first and second graders, to go with the picture book I Wonder by Annaka Harris and John Rowe. Following a discussion of the book and what her students wonder about in general, Kathleen explores the concept of wondering using movement. For example, "I wonder what would happen if we try to balance on our hands?" and "I wonder what would happen if we try to put our head to our knees?" Fun!

At Picture-Book-a-Day, Amy shares one of her monthly picture book roundups, where she reviews four recent picture books. Two of the books -- Father's Chinese Opera by Rich Lo and I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison and Frank Morrison -- contain lots of movement. And if you're looking for movement ideas to go with I Got the Rhythm, Amy's got you covered! She features the book, along with movement ideas for preschool story time, in the August Book to Boogie post at the Library as Incubator Project.

The July Book to Boogie post at the Library as Incubator Project features the picture book Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault, and Ted Rand. Written by dance educator Maria Hanley, the enthusiastic post provides plenty of ideas for getting babies and toddlers moving with different body parts!

Thanks to Darshana Khiani, I found out about the blog All Done Monkey, which recently featured a board book about dances from India! Dances of India is the first in a series of four books created by two mothers who wanted to increase the availability of multicultural books for small children. With the help of two characters named Maya and Leela, the book takes readers on a journey across India, introducing four classical dances from distinct regions of the country.

I had the pleasure of meeting well-known author and illustrator Jules Feiffer at a children's writing conference a few years ago and was delighted when I stumbled across a video of him discussing his new picture book Rupert Can Dance. The MacMillan Children's Publishing Group hosts the wonderful one-minute video, during which Mr. Feiffer talks about his inspiration for the book.

I recently discovered the blog The Brown Bookshelf, which "is designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers." In July, the site highlighted two picture books about young girls inspired to dance. The first -- Firebird -- is written by Misty Copeland, who as a soloist for the American Ballet Theater was the first Black woman to star in the Firebird ballet. The second -- A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream -- is about a little girl who becomes inspired by the first Black prima ballerina, Janet Collins.

And last but not least, I discovered a post on The Book Chook featuring a new picture book out of Australia called Little Piggy's Got No Moves. Written by the husband and wife team of Phillip Gwynne and Eliza McCann with illustrations by Tom Jellett, the book celebrates the uniqueness of every child through a story about Little Piggy, who learns that he really can dance, even though no one thought piggies could groove. Check it out!

Read & Romp Roundup -- October 2013

Fall is in full swing, and hopefully the posts in the October Read & Romp Roundup will get you and your little ones swinging as well! There are even a couple posts with fall themes, including a "fa-boo-lous" Halloween rhyme to keep the holiday spirit alive. Here we go...

At Maria's Movers, Maria describes how she used a short poem about falling leaves with her 4- to 6-year-old dance students. She hung the poem on the wall, read through it, and then led a creative movement exercise based on the poem. For the 5- and 6-year-olds, she even separated them into groups and let them experiment with their own choreography! My favorite part of the poem is how the wind sends the leaves "dancing to the sky."

Lynelle from Flower Girl World introduces the picture book Camellia the Fabulous Flower Girl from her Flower Girl World series of children's books. Each book focuses on a different flower girl. One is a fashion model. Another is a cowgirl. There's even a detective among the group. So can you guess what Camellia might be? She's a ballerina! Check out Flower Girl World to learn more about the series, which also includes chapter books, and for information about preparing little girls for participating in a wedding.

At Picture Books Help Kids Soar, Vivian shares the 96-word rhyme "Halloween Dance Party Countdown" about dancing zombies, goblins, monsters, and more! The rhyme won an honorable mention in the annual Halloweensie Contest run by children's author Susanna Leonard Hill. Congratulations, Vivian!

Angela at OMazing Kids shares another fabulous post about how she incorporates picture books into her yoga and speech-language therapy sessions for kids. This month she explores I Love Monkey by Suzanne Kaufmann -- an adorable book about the importance of being yourself. Check out Angela's post for ideas on yoga poses, props, games, crafts, and music to go with the book -- and to see photos of the cute bendable sock monkey figurines she found!

I always look forward to posts from Reshama at Stacking Books about picture books with unique movement themes. This month, she shares a review of the new picture book Mitchell Goes Bowling by Hallie Durand and Tony Fucile. "Mitchell Goes Bowling is a HILARIOUS story of a four-year-old and how his dad combats, with an AMAZING amount of patience, a simple every-day problem of keeping his son's energy in check," says Reshama. Apparently Mitchell loves to knock things down!

And finally, I hope you will check out the October Book to Boogie post on the Library as Incubator Project website, where dance educator Jill Homan Randall discusses the picture book Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia. Dig, mix, lift, and tip along with Jill as she shares her ideas for using this book to get kids moving during library story time!

Read & Romp Roundup -- August 2013

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend and have a little time left to read the August Read & Romp Roundup, which is tiny but tantalizing this time around. Thanks to all who contributed. I really do love hearing all the ways you use picture books and poetry to get the little ones in your life moving...

Catherine at Story Snug reviews the picture book Doing the Animal Bop by Jan Ormerod and Lindsey Gardiner. The book is full of animals, bold and colorful illustrations, and -- as you might expect -- dance moves. According to Catherine, "the rhyming text flows beautifully and is very easy to read. However, to get the full Animal Bop experience, the accompanying CD is a must!"

At Omazing Kids, Angela shares one of her favorite picture books to help kids learn about feelings -- My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. In her post, Angela offers a supply list for a wonderful yoga class that incorporates music, arts and crafts, scarves for movement activities, and yoga poses for each animal in the book. Her ideas could also work in dance class, a library story time, or at home, so take a look!

Join the August Read & Romp Roundup!

Do 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? If so, or if you're planning to write such a post, then you've come to the right place!

This is the official call for submissions to the August Read & Romp Roundup. Just leave a link to your post in the comments below, and I'll include it in the next roundup.  If you're new here or aren't familiar with the roundups, you can read some of the old ones here. Looking forward to hearing your new ideas!

Submissions are open until Friday, August 31, 2012.

Join the July Read & Romp Roundup!

Is it really the middle of July already? Time is flying by! I had so many ideas for posting this month, and I haven't gotten around to any of them yet! But... I at least can't let my monthly roundup pass by.

This is the official call for submissions for the July Read & Romp Roundup. 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.

Maybe you read a picture book about yoga that you'd like to share. Or maybe you read a poem that made your students want to get up and dance. All ideas are welcome! I'll round up all the links and post about them together in a few weeks. Can't wait to hear from you!

Submissions are open until Monday, July 30, 2012. 

Perfect Picture Book Friday: Wiggle!

One of the first things babies do--even before they learn how to eat, or to babble, or to sit--is to wiggle. And then they keep on wiggling and wiggling and wiggling some more throughout their toddler years and beyond. No wonder Wiggle, the first picture book collaboration between author Doreen Cronin and illustrator Scott Menchin, was such a success. It's all about wiggling!

Children's author Susanna Leonard Hill has started a feature on her blog called Perfect Picture Book Fridays, which is part of a resource she's developing for parents and teachers who are looking for high-quality picture books to combine with educational activities at home and in the classroom. Every Friday Susanna takes recommendations to add to the resource, and I'm recommending Wiggle this week. As you might have guessed from its title alone, Wiggle would also be a great addition to any dance teacher's picture book collection!

  

General Information

• Title: Wiggle
• Author: Doreen Cronin
• Illustrator: Scott Menchin
• Publisher: Atheneum (Simon & Schuster)
• Date of publication: 2005
• Genre: Fiction
• Age: Preschool and younger

Themes

• Animals
• Movement
• Wiggling

Opening and Synopsis

Do you wake up with a wiggle? Do you wiggle out of bed? 

If you wiggle with your breakfast, it might wind up on your head.

An adorable beige and brown dog is the star of the book, and Cronin's upbeat rhyming text gives him lots of ideas for wiggling. He wiggles with his breakfast, wiggles with his animal friends, wiggles different body parts, and even wiggles in his underwear! 

Why I Like This Book

I love picture books written in rhyme, and the rhyme in this book is especially creative. Who knew there were so many ways to wiggle! I also love the expressions on the dog's face and the childlike quality of the illustrations. The dog and other animals are drawn with black outlines that are colored in, but the coloring doesn't quite make it inside the lines all the time. This just adds to the book's charm, as do the actual photographs of objects like a pancake, a rubber duck, and a toy ball that are incorporated into the art and sprinkled throughout the book. On one page, the dog is even wearing a sweater and hat made out of real yarn (or at least a photograph of real yarn). Neat! 

Resources

• Wiggle was chosen as the 2009 book for the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers project. Created as part of the project, this impressive 55-page toolkit contains more than 30 activities for preschoolers that are all related to the book. The activities focus on reading, movement, math, crafts, and more!
• Simon & Schuster has put a variety of games, worksheets, and coloring pages together into this activity kit that can be used alongside the book and its sequel Bounce (which I'll talk about in more detail in an upcoming post). They're sure to keep kids wiggling, bouncing, and thinking, too!

In addition to being Perfect Picture Book Friday, today is Poetry Friday. So there are now two great reasons to explore the kidlitosphere at the end of every week! Today's Poetry Friday host is Robyn Hood Black at Read, Write, Howl. You'll be sure to find lots of original poetry and posts about other books in verse there.

And to see what others are recommending for today's Perfect Picture Book Friday, click here. You can also find the full resource of Perfect Picture Books, which has a whole category devoted to the arts, here. Happy Friday, everyone!

This post is also part of a December of Doreen on my blog. You can find a list of all the posts in the series here. They are all related to Doreen Cronin and her movement-themed books!

Jump along to a Timeless Read Aloud!

Read It. Move It. Share It.

Each month I recommend a picture book for independent dance educator Maria Hanley to incorporate into her creative movement classes in New York City. This is the sixth month of our collaboration. You can read about Maria’s experience with our June book—Jump, Frog, Jump!—over at her award-winning blog. 

Jump, Frog, Jump! is a fun movement-themed book written by Robert Kalan, illustrated by Byron Barton, and published by Greenwillow Books (an imprint of HarperCollins). Although it was published three whole decades ago, it uses two popular writing techniques that still make it a fun read-aloud book today. 

The first of the two techniques is cumulation--one that might be best known for its use in the classic There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Coincidentally, Jump, Frog, Jump! has a fly in it, too…plus a whole bunch of other animals…

This is the snake that dropped from a branch

and swallowed the fish

that swam after the frog

that was under the fly that climbed out of the water.

This excerpt from the middle of the book also shows the use of movement words such as “dropped” and “swallowed” and “swam.” As the action in the book increases over time, you can begin to see how poor little frog gets himself into one perilous situation after the other....which brings us to the second technique I wanted to mention--repetition. Each time poor frog gets himself into trouble, he fixes the situation the same way. You can probably guess how...

How did the frog get away?

Jump, frog, jump!

On every other full-page spread of the book, the sole words “Jump, frog, jump!” appear in bright yellow letters against a bright blue background. I can just imagine a room full of two- or three-year olds sitting on a carpet listening to the story, giggling as they yell out this chorus over and over again. I wouldn't be surprised if at least a few of them also popped up from their seats to jump around every time they repeated the words. 

Another quality I like about this book is how Byron Barton adds a richer context to the story through his illustrations. For example, he incorporates some of the animals into the story before they are ever mentioned in the text. Because young children learn to "read" illustrations before they learn to actually read text, details like these don't go unnoticed by their little eyes. 

I picked Jump, Frog, Jump! as our June book because it has a summer theme, I thought it would excite young children, and I don't know anyone under the age of six who doesn't like to jump! Let's find out how Maria used the book in her creative movement classes here.