Giraffes can't dance

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Number One bestseller Giraffes Can't Dance from author Giles Andreae has been delighting children for over 20 years. Gerald the tall giraffe would love to join in with the other animals at the Jungle Dance, but everyone knows that giraffes can't dance . . . or can they?

A funny, touching and triumphant picture book story about a giraffe who finds his own tune and confidence too, with joyful illustrations from Guy Parker Rees and a foiled cover.

... wonderfully funny. - Independent

A fantastically funny and wonderfully colourful romp of a picture book. All toddlers should grow up reading this or hearing their parents read it aloud to them. - Daily Telegraph

A joyful read about an outsider who finds acceptance on his own terms.... there's also a simple moral about tolerance and daring to be different. - Junior

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

All the jungle's got the beat, but Gerald the giraffe has four left feet. Such is the dilemma in this British team's bouncy if didactic picture book about self-esteem. As a multitude of fleet-footed beasts eagerly "skip and prance" at the annual Jungle Dance in Africa, Gerald feels sad "because when it comes to dancing/ he was really very bad." Jeered by waltzing warthogs and cha-cha-ing chimps when he attempts to cut a rug, Gerald hangs his head and leaves the celebration behind. Luckily, a friendly cricket appears in the moonlight, chirping a morale-boosting song of self-confidence that soon sets Gerald in graceful motion. Andreae's rhyming text has a jaunty rhythm that's likely to spark interest in the read-aloud crowd, in spite of a heavy-handed message. Parker-Rees's kicky depictions of slightly anthropomorphic animals boogying on the dance floor are the highlight here. His watercolor and pen-and-ink artwork exudes a fun, party vibe. Ages 3-6. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

PreS-K-A clumsy giraffe is instantly transformed into an exceptional dancer when he finds music that he loves. Gerald has tall, thin legs, which are good for standing still, but when he tries to run, his crooked knees buckle. At the annual Jungle Dance, he is laughed off the floor. A cricket tells him that "-sometimes when you're different you just need a different song." This advice enables the lonely creature to dance, much to the amazement of the other animals. The rhythmic text follows a pattern of four lines per stanza. Some rhyme and others do not. Some flow smoothly; others are forced. One line states that, "He threw his arms out sideways-." Huh! Giraffes don't have arms. Full-page color illustrations done in pen and ink and watercolor are bold and warm. Characters are whimsical and expressive, but they don't make up for the drastic and unbelievable turnaround that takes place upon hearing the cricket play his violin. For stories about individuality, stick with Helen Lester's Tacky the Penguin (1988) and Three Cheers for Tacky (1994, both Houghton) or Robert Kraus's Leo the Late Bloomer (HarperCollins, 1971) and Owliver (Prentice-Hall, 1974; o.p.).-Kathleen Simonetta, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

ItÆs time for AfricaÆs annual Jungle Dance, but alas, Gerald the giraffe is graceless. After heÆs ridiculed for attempting to join in, a cricket encourages him to listen to his surroundings (the sweetest music / is those branches in the breeze). The storyÆs happy outcome and moral are simplistic, but the taut, fleet rhymes create a catchy soundtrack for Parker-ReesÆs comical, carnival-toned images. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Andreae's ode to a different drummer stumbles when it preaches about uncovering your own beat, but is ferried along by enough sweet verse and Parker-Rees's dazzling colors that it almost pulls its own weight. Gerald the giraffe's legs are too spindly for dancing; they are always buckling at the knees when it comes to the old soft-shoe. And while all the other creatures show some mean moves at the Jungle Dance ("The chimps all did a cha-cha / with a very Latin feel, / and eight baboons then teamed up / for a special Scottish reel"), poor Gerald is hooted off the dance floor before he even has a chance to crumple. As he shuffles homeward, and as he stops to admire the moon, a cricket suggests that "you just need a different song." So, to the sound of the wind in the trees, Gerald starts to move: a gentle swaying, some circling, and some swishing. Suddenly he commences to belt out Olympic-quality gymnastic moves-"Then he did a backward somersault / and leapt up in the air"-that blows the other animals away. But probably not readers, even the youngest of whom will want to know just why Gerald's legs didn't buckle this time, special music or not. Bad enough that in a story about rhythm, the verse doesn't always scan-but must Gerald strike the Travolta pose? Gerald doesn't find himself; he simply learns how to mimic. (Picture book. 3-5)