Shimmy Shake Earthquake: Don't Forget to Dance Poems [Library Binding]

Cynthia Jabar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992 | Age Level: 3 and up

Poems of Jack Prelutsky, Margaret Mahy, Ogden Nash, and others reflect a broad ethnic background and the rhythms and sounds of dance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jabar's buoyant sketchlike figures "Flip it, flop it, / She hip-hop it" and "Shimmy shake it" throughout this snappy collection of 18 poems about dancing. She depicts such assorted characters as a Scottish bagpiper and Russian dancers, and her varied selections include an Apache song, a Langston Hughes poem and a piece of Ogden Nash tomfoolery. Despite the attempt to provide ethnic diversity, however, the tone of the illustrations seems uniform, each pastel-colored page filled with exuberantly happy, wiggly children. Clever endpapers show progressive steps to several dances, and Jabar has inventively illustrated Jack Prelutsky's "Forty Performing Bananas" as a school pageant. While not all of the verses translate well into foot-stomping rhythms (as with some of the traditional rhymes), the juxtaposition of verses from Mother Goose to Margaret Mahy and the humorously busy drawings make for an irrepressible invitation to the dance. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-- This lively collection of 18 poems is fun and sprightly, but it is not entirely successful as the dances are named but not described or explained. Among those included are rap, break dancing, hula hoops, boogie, Russian moujik, tap, cancan, polka, polonaise, hula, and shimmy; the verses are full of movement, and so are the illustrations. Although similar in style to Jabar's Alice Ann Gets Ready for School (Little, 1989), the pictures are more vibrant and the pages are not so packed and busy, making the book appealing and easy to read. Fluorescent, Day-Glo shades of neon pink, orange, green, and turquoise predominate, and children of many races (some wearing glasses) play and dance. Generally, the poems can be found in other collections, but the works by Margaret Mahy, Langston Hughes, Lillian Morrison, Jack Prelutsky, Ogden Nash, and others are delightful. This is for a younger audience than Morrison's The Break Dance Kids Poems of Sport, Motion, and Locomotion (Lothrop, 1985). Libraries that have Baylor's Sometimes I Dance Mountains (Scribners, 1973; o.p.), Nelson's Dancing Games for Children of All Ages (Sterling, 1984; o.p.), Ancona's Dancing Is (Dutton, 1981), or strong poetry collections may not need this one. However, while not quite as much fun as Bobette McCarthy's Buffalo Girls (Crown, 1987) or as action-generating as Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out (Crown, 1988), it offers more variety. Attractive, but not a first purchase. --Susannah Price, Boise Pub. Lib.,
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Library Binding: 1 pages
• Publisher: Joy St Books (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316434590
• ISBN-13: 978-0316434591
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,975,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)