Dancing Feet!

Starred review from April 5, 2010
Consistently in step with newcomer Craig's toe-tapping narrative, Brown's cut-paper collages herald a fresh direction for his artwork. Recalling the simple yet sophisticated collage art of Leo Lionni (to whom Brown dedicates the book) and Eric Carle, the pictures introduce a cheerful menagerie of animals composed of basic shapes cut from hand-painted papers in an array of colors, textures, and patterns that recall everything from corrugated cardboard to exotic grasses. Celebrating movement and sound, the guessing-game story hints at the identity of each creature, initially seen retreating from the page, leaving footprints behind. Spontaneous, onomatopoeic verses ask questions that are answered with a page turn: “Tippity! Tippity!
/ Little black feet!/ Who is dancing that tippity
beat?” leads into a spread that reveals ladybugs cavorting among leaves and dappled orange flowers. An elephant's beat is “stompity,” ducks' is “slappity,” a caterpillar's is “creepity,” and a bear's is “thumpity.” In a satisfying finale, kids wearing clothing that mimics the appearance of the various animals demonstrate their own dancing feet. Fluid repetition and snappy rhythm make this a natural for reading aloud—noisily. Ages 1–4.

April 1, 2010
PreS-KIn this picture book, children are asked to guess who's dancing across a spread by looking at the clues in the artwork and listening to the rhymes. A dancing bear makes a "Thumpity! Thumpity!" noise with its feet, while the steps of ladybugs sound more like, "Tippity! Tippity!" Appearing alongside a row of small footprints is: "Creepity! Creepity!/Lots of purple feet!/Who is dancing/that creepity beat?" A turn of the page reveals an illustration of a smiling caterpillar and the answer: "Caterpillar's dancing/on creepity feet./Creepity! Creepity!/Happy feet!" Brown uses hand-painted paper collage and primary shapes to create all of the happy dancers. A surprise pairing of partners ends this cheerful story and acts as a motivator to get children moving. Pair this title with Karma Wilson's "Hilda Must Be Dancing" (S & S, 2004) for storytimes full of movement and sounds."Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2010
Preschool-K Get ready to toe tap and foot slap in rhythmic syncopation with these six dancing creatures. Tippity! Tippity! / Little black feet! / Who is dancing / that tippity beat? Turn the page and the next spread reveals ladybugs that are in fact dancing on tippity feet. Elephant, caterpillar, bear, lizard, and duck all have their own styles of dancing along to the sound effects, which are italicized in preparation for kids to shout along. Its the lively paper collages on hand-painted papers that put the zing in the tale. Browns technique adds dimension and liveliness to this singsong guessing game. The last pages spring a surprise, depicting kidseach of them wearing clothing suggestive of one of the aforementioned animalsdemonstrating Happy, happy dancing feet! The simple shapes, bright colors, and large print make this a perfect choice for preschool storytimes that will have kids movin and groovin.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
"Tippity! Tippity! / Little black feet! / Who is dancing / that tippity beat?" An energetic collage illustration gives kiddos a big hint: teeny-tiny footprints trail behind a red backside, speckled with black polka dots. With a page turn, readers learn the answer: ladybugs. The pattern then repeats, with lively introductions to other animals' "stompity," "slappity," or "creepity" feet. A perfect book to get toddlers up and dancing.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)