Tap Dancing!

While vacationing on the big island of Hawaii, we like to stop into the library to load up on books for my two young sons. Of course, I couldn't resist checking out their dance collection while there.

I found a book on tap dancing that I would like to share with you today. Tap is an amazing percussive dance form, and there are few books on the form. Tap by Lisa Dillman is part of the "Get Going! Hobbies" series that Heinemann publishes. This informative book is ideal for school libraries and is geared towards students in 2nd-5th grades. 

The text includes history, alignment and balance, safety tips, and how to produce "single sounds" and "multiple sounds." Throughout the book there are great photos of famous tappers over the years – Sammy Davis Jr., Fred Astaire, and Gregory Hines. (Photos of some more female tap dancers would have balanced out the book more….)

For lovers of tap, I would also recommend the joyful picture book about Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles – Think of That!. There is also the autobiography of Savion Glover, Savion!: My Life in Tap.