Gotta Dance!! I Got the Rhythm! by Connie Schofield-Morrison

I HEARD THE RHYTHM IN MY MIND... BEAT! BEAT!

A stroll into the park gets this girl's pink-sneakered feet tapping out the beat all around. She shakes her shoes with the rhythm of the breeze in the trees, feeling the beat in everything.

Some boys drum on trash can lids, and she snaps her fingers and claps her hands.

I HIPPED AND HOPPED!

BING BANG BOOM!

A boy cranks up his boom box to add a tune to the music mix. The song is infectious, and other kids follow the leader, and soon there is a whole parade of kids moving to the beat behind her. Even a street clown falls in line, and moms, dads, and passersby join in a rhythm section that has everyone dancing.

It's a spontaneous, rhythmic happening in the King Award-winning Connie Scholfield-Morrison's brand-new I Got the Rhythm (Bloomsbury Press, 2014). Artist Frank Morrison's vivacious little heroine is hard to resist as she dances through the park, absorbed in the joy of moving to the beat, and his urban park hustles and bustles with the colorful food vendors, wannabe buskers, and people ready to have some fun. A natural for preschool students learning about the elements of music and an easy for choice for early readers to enjoy on their own.

Partner this one with Lindsay Craig's and Marc Brown's Farmyard Beat and Dancing Feet! for more two more toe-tapping tales. (See my reviews here.)