Dance Picture Books
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Body Parts
From Head to Toe - Eric Carle
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Movement Directions
Bug Dance – Stuart J. Murphy
Explores beginner math skills
Music included
How Can You Dance? – Rick Walton & Ana López-Escrivá
Toddlers
Barnyard Dance – Sandra Boynton
Includes movement vocabulary: prance, slide, bow, trot, leap, spin, bounce, strut and twirl
Dancing Feet! - Lindsey Craig
This book explores beats with different animals.
Giraffes Cant Dance – Giles Andreae
Message: It's ok to be different and find your own style.
Stomp, Wiggle, Clap and Tap: My First Book of Dance - Rachelle Burk
You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Tae-Eun Yoo
Boys in Dance
Message: No one is perfect.
Ballet Boys Coloring & Craft Book - Vanessa Salgado
Ballet with Heart - Emily Joof
Black Boys Dance Too: Darnell Enters a Talent Show - Jamal Josef
Boys Dance! - John Robert Allman
This book introduces readers to an all boys ballet class and beginning vocabulary.
Boys Dancing: From School Gym to Theater Stage - George Ancona
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Animal Movements
Clap Your Hands - Lorinda Bryan Cauley
Doing the Animal Bop – Jan Ormerod & Lindsey Gardiner
Music CD included
Move! - Robin Page
Includes traveling vocabulary
Dance Genres
Ballet
B is for Ballet: A Dance Alphabet - John Robert Allman
This book highlights ballet vocabulary, choreographers and famous ballets.
¿Baila usted? / Do You Dance? - María Del Sol Peralta
Beautiful Magical Amazing BALLET (A Mia Book) – Mary Lee
This book has themes of the first day of school and teamwork.
Bunheads - Misty Copeland
This book tells a story of Copeland's first dance class and auditioning for roles.
Dance of the Feathers (Hola, Lola!) - Keka Novales
Message: All roles in dance are important.
Dancing in the Wings – Debbie Allen
Message: It is OK to be different.
Persistence, self-esteem, self-control
Sugarplum Ballerinas: Plum Fantastic and Toeshoe Trouble – Whoopi Goldberg & Deborah Underwood
The Night Before the Nutcracker (American Ballet Theatre)- John Robert Allman
Welcome to Ballet School - Ashley Bouder
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Hip Hop
Hip-Hop Lollipop - Susan McElroy Montanari
Hip Hop Speaks to Children: 50 Inspiring Poems with a Beat - Nikki Giovanni
When the Beat was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop - Laban Carrick Hill
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Tap
Rap A Tap Tap Here’s Bojangles - Think of that – Leo & Diane Dillon
Tap Dance Fever – Pat Brisson
That Rat Can Tap! - Dawn Kenniston
Tip-Tap Pop – Sarah Lynn
Includes Tap vocabulary
Country References
Africa
Drumbeat in Our Feet – Patricia A. Keeler & Júlio T. Leitão
This book describes history and percussive beats.
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Japan
Suki’s Kimono - Chieri Uegaki
This book describes a late summer Japanese Obon dance festival.
Mexico
Lupita's First Dance / El primer baile de Lupita - Lupe Ruiz-Flores
Bilingual book about a girl's Mexican folk dance performance.
Multi-Country Books
Let's Dance! - Valerie Bolling
This book takes early readers on a journey exploring 10 dances from around the world
Spain
Lola’s Fandango - Anna Witte
Flamenco Dance
United States - Native American
Bowwow Powwow – Brenda J. Child
Dancing with the Indians - Angela Shelf Medearis
Describes percussive beats: gentle versus hard
Jingle Dancer –Cynthia Leitich Smith
Book about the Jingle folk dance
POW Wow: Niimiwin – Everyone Dance – Leah Savage
Book about the Ojibwe culture and Powwows
Holiday/Seasonal
February – Chinese New Year
Dragon Dancing – Carole Lexa Schaefer
Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year - Kate Waters
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October - Halloween
Behind the Mask - Yangsook Choi
Korean Folk Dance
Frank was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance – Keith Graves
Message on stage performance and giving it your all.
Shake Dem Halloween Bones - Mike Reed
Hip hop rhyming text with classic fair-tale characters.
Skeleton Shake – Illustrated by Liz Conrad
Halloween Party Dance book for Ages 3+
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December
The Nutcracker Doll – Mary Newell DePamela
Message: There are no small parts in a performance.
Miscellaneous
A Bailar!/ Let's Dance! -Judith Ortiz Cofer
Bilingual book about a family salsa dancing in their community.
Barn Dance! – Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Square dancing
Call Me Tree / Llamame Arbol – Maya Christina Gonzalez
This book contains imagery and helps with improvisation and interpretation.
Dance – Bill T. Jones and Susan Kuklin
Picture book of body shapes
Dance/iBailo! (Amazing Me! / ¡soy Sorprendente!) - Carol Thompson
Dinosaurumpus – Tony Mitton
Loud percussive story
The Jellybeans and the Big Dance – Laura Numeroff & Nate Evans
Message: Overcoming stage fright
Kitchen Dance - Maurie J. Manning
Written in English and Spanish
Movement Stories for Children Ages 3-6 – Helen Landalf & Pamela Gerka
This book includes a variety of stories, music and instructional tools.
Dance-It-Out Creative Movement Stories for Kids – Once Upon A Dance
A series of interactive stories that incorporate movement terminology with social emotional learning skills.
Classroom Favorites:
Princess Naomi Helps a Unicorn
Dancing Shapes: Ballet and Body Awareness for Young Dancers
Pete the Cat and the Cool Cat Boogie – Kimberly & James Dean
Message: Be yourself.
The Night Before My Dance Recital - Natasha Wing
Story about the preparation for a recital.
