Song And Dance - Hardcover

Grade 4-6. An upbeat collection of 16 poems that represents a variety of styles and moods. Mary O'Neill's "What Is Jazz" is charming and lively. Eve Merriam's "Dance" is playful. Beverly McLoughland's "Birds' Square Dance" is witty and fun. Other selections are challenging, dramatic, dreamy, or thoughtful. Hopkins's choices successfully focus attention on the sounds of the words as well as on the imagery. The strong rhythms represented also make reading aloud easy for young or inexperienced poetry readers. Taylor's colorful collages capture the motion and energy found in all of the selections. Taken as a whole, Song and Dance will be an inspirational addition to any number of classroom units or library programs. Shared one on one, youngsters will find these poems entertaining and accessible.?Jean Pollock, King Country Library System, Seattle, WA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 1^-3. Illustrated with bright collages, this collection presents 16 "poems popping / Dancing on cool-night streets / Songs flying." Langston Hughes, Ashley Bryan, Carl Sandburg, and Eve Merriam are among the poets gathered in this slender anthology. Today's young readers will enjoy hearing these selections again and again--for the rhyme, for the rhythm, for the pleasure in the imagery, as in Hopkins' "When I dance / caterpillars boogie / into butterflies / wild geese disco / lighting up / skies." Although many of the illustrations are better suited to younger readers, a number of the poems will be appreciated across grade levels and generations. An excellent read-aloud for anyone who savors the sounds and the fun of language and for anyone who might "dance with a cloud, / dance with a grasshopper, / laugh out loud." Karen Morgan