Giraffes Can't Dance

Rating:
Summary: Okay for toddlers, better for preschoolers
Review: Cute book about dancing - not an easy topic to find for toddlers who love dancing. Good read-aloud level for 2 year old, nice pictures, easy to follow story and a great John Travolta/Saturday Night Fever pose by Gerald at the end. Includes peer group of animals who laugh at the giraffe for not being able to dance, which is a social concept that I had reservations about exposing to our 2 year old but may be okay for an older preschooler. So, I read it with reservations at first, but it seems to be okay for him. However, he's not enjoying the book as much as I am and hasn't been interested in hearing it much beyond the first couple of times.

Rating:
Summary: Cute - but don't like the name calling to teach a lesson
Review: Cute pictures and great rhyme. The problem I have is that when all the other animals see the poor giraffe try and dance at the party they say in unison "Giraffes can't dance you silly fool! Oh, Gerald, you're so weird." Why did the authors have to use "silly fool" and call Gerald "weird"? The world is full enough of kids saying hurtful things to other kids that I don't want the books I read to be one more place for my girls to hear such things...espeically since there are many others that teach lessons without putting others down to prove the point.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Lesson!
Review: Gerald the Giraffe is one clumsy animal. He's good at standing still and munching shoots off trees but when he wants to join the other animals at the Jungle Dance, they only laugh at him. Not for long, though. His friend the cricket knows how to play the music that inspires Gerald to dance like John Travolta in his best days. Gerald is transformed because "we all can dance ... when we find music that we love."

"Giraffes Can't Dance" is my personal favorite among Max's books. The story is familiar to many kids who go to kindergarten and learn that their peers can be picky about who belongs to the pack and who does not. In the book, the exuberant illustrations of Guy Parker-Rees take the sting out of Gerald's initial rejection by the other animals. Watching the Rhinos rock'n'roll and the lions "dance a tango that was elegant and bold," balances Gerald's sadness. The emphasis of the story is on Gerald's joyful transformation, anyway. Just read Gerald's jubilant "I am dancing! Yes, I'm dancing! I AM DANCING!" with enough liveliness and watch the kids identify with a flying giraffe. After all, the lesson is that you can excel and enjoy who you are even if, at first, the world does not play your tune. With a little help from his friends, Gerald finds out that "sometimes when you're different you just need a different song."

Let me add one short paragraph on Gerald's helpful friends, the cricket and the three small bugs that are hiding on every page. These four little fellows are an ingenious device to soften the impact of the emotional story. Kids are in love with details; once they know what to look for, they will tirelessly search for the bugs and the cricket, and point them out to you. Hint: play dumb and they will have a party.

Rating:
Summary: I read this book to my disabled child (4 years old)
Review: I bought this book for my 2 yr old and he loved the story from the beginning. After the first read we realized that the cricket was on every page of the book. Boy did we have fun looking for it on the second time around. After ten different readings we finally found all the crickets. the story is a good one when you watch your toddler show empathy for Gerald. I highly recommend this book!!

Rating:
Summary: This is why we liked this book:
Review: The kindergarten class at Eliza Kelly School liked this book very much. We liked when Gerald did the backwards sommersault in the air. We like to dance too! We also liked the part when Gerald closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the jungle. The cricket was a good friend to Gerald.
The illustrations were colorful and beautiful.
Gerald is a great dancer!

Kindergarten at
Eliza Kelly School

Rating:
Summary: Why all the 5-star ratings???
Review: This book was cute, but not a book you'd want to read over and over. Once was enough. A book adults and kids love to hear over and over is the Big Hungry Bear (Red Ripe Strawberry) by Audrey Wood.

Rating:
Summary: There is something special in all of us
Review: This book was such an amazing story! Andreae combines a great moral message with a wonderful story. Parker-Rees' illustrations are also beautiful and he brings very bright and vivid colors. If you have children, know children, or teach children this is one that must be added to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: I read this book to my disabled child (4 years old)
Review: This is a wonderful book about a Gerald, a giraffe who attempts to dance at the yearly jungle dance, but shies away from the stage when other animals laugh at him. This book express beautifully how it feels to be different - 'Gerald had never felt so sad and so alone' - and ends on a very positive note: 'Sometimes when you're different, you just need a different song' and 'we all can dance, when we find music that we love.' It was a perfect book to help my child with his feelings towards his weakness.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Lesson!
Review: This is the most precious story about how being different is okay and how you can still be good at something even though you have to go about it a little "differently." I bought this for my 4 yr old son with cerebral palsy who can't walk and he absolutely adores it! "We can all dance if we find the right music." Gerald, who initially was ridiculed by the other animals for being a terrible dancer, gets a little help from a friend in finding the "right music." His dancing is admired by the other animals in the end. My husband demonstrates the different dances with my son as he reads the book to him which my son thoroughly enjoys! We have a very extensive book collection for my son, but this would have to be one of his (and my) all-time favorites. I have also bought several copies of this book for my son's school. The illustrations are the best that I've ever seen in a children's book. Can't recommend this highly enough!