DANCING IN MY BONES

This rollicking, rhyming text by Andrews (Rattlebone Rock, 1997) is part of the Harper Growing Tree line for preschoolers, but the singable, patterned text will also be a hit with first-grade, art, and P.E. teachers and their students. The first-person text (“I’ve got dancing in my bones, in my bones”) repeats on each double-page spread with only the action and the corresponding body part changing: from dancing to tapping feet, bouncing knees, swaying hips, and on through other energetic actions back to dancing again. The bouncy refrain begs to be sung: “I’ve got hip-hopping, tip-topping, be-bopping, no-stopping singing in my mouth, in my mouth.” The text can be sung to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands,” or chanted as a rap with claps and snaps. Mueller’s expansive watercolors fill the square pages with child-like illustrations of lime-green grass, flowers, rainbows, birds, and children of many colors with oversized heads and bendable, skinny limbs. Every page is filled with exuberant outdoor life and with smiling children overflowing with hip-hopping, be-bopping, no-stopping youthful energy. A first choice for all libraries with wiggly kids. (Picture book. 2-6)