Giraffes Can't Dance

By: Giles Andreae, Illustrated by : Guy Parker- Rees

Gerald the Giraffe has never been good at dancing. Like all Giraffes his neck was long and his legs were too skinny and made it hard for him to twirl. At the yearly Jungle Dance the jungle animals were all showing off their dance moves. The chimps did the cha-cha, the warthogs did the waltz and the lions did the tango. When it was Gerald’s turn to dance, they all started to make fun of him because “Giraffes can’t dance”. Gerald started to walk away in shame when all of a sudden a cricket started to talk to him. The cricket explained to Gerald that everything makes music and that everyone can dance as long as it is music that they like. With this inspiration Gerald started dancing and twirling all on his own. All of the animals in the jungle noticed and watched in awe of the wonderful dance moves.

            This wonderful inspirational story is great for including song, dance, culture and rhyme into any classroom curriculum, and the students will love the fun illustrations and the motivational message that the book offers.

Reading level: 1^st -2^nd grade Lexile: AD450L

Suggested Delivery: Whole class read aloud

Vocabulary: crooked, shoots, buckled, prance, waltzing, tango, elegant, cha-cha, reel, clumsy, sneered, clot, clearing, hooves, shuffling, boogied,

Electronic Resources:

http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2010/04/review-giraffes-cant-dance.html good information and reviews on the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVzblgpqQnk Watch and listen to a reading of this book.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/giraffes-cant-dance-lesson-plan lesson plan for this book about rhyming words.

Activities to increase comprehension:

Before reading: This book mentions certain dance moves such as the cha-cha and tango, talking about these types of dances and other types of dances can be a great way for children to better understand the book and make connections.  

After reading: Depending on students ages they could research a style of dance and its culture and meaning. They could come up with their own dance moves to music that they like or that is provided to them. They could learn about cultures and the ways that they express themselves through song and dance.