SONG AND DANCE MAN
written by Karen Ackerman illustrated by Stephen Gammell
Song and Dance Man is a story about a man who was once a vaudeville performer and now that he is older he likes to relive his vaudeville days with his grandchildren. Whenever this man's grandchildren come over they all go down to the basement together and the grandfather takes out his old cane and hat and begins to dance and sing to the best of his ability. Now that he is older it is harder for him to dance and his grandchildren wish that they could have seen their grandfather in his prime as a performer.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun book to read but also sad because I made such a connection with this book. My grandfather, who passed away a couple years ago, was a musician for many years. He and my grandmother had a television program in the late 60's and they used to travel all around the country. When my grandfather got older he developed arthritis. His arthritis became so bad in his hands he was not longer able to play his music (saxophone and bass guitar) and it was devastating for all of us because he was no longer able to do what he loved more than anything in this world. Reading this book reminded me so much of my grandfather and how much I wished I could have seen him perform live so many years ago.
I would recommend this book for grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade. It's a pretty easy read and the illustrations are quite interesting. I believe the illustrations are in colored pencil and as you can see by the cover of the book, the illustrator uses multiple colors in his pictures.
This book seems interesting and something the children can connect to. Although my only concern is that like you the children might have emotional conflict about their grandfather. This sounds like a great book for a read aloud.
ReplyDeleteBrittany-- your connection to this story made me think of how we can share a book with our students intending to have one effect and end up striking a very different chord in them. One way to cope with this is to give our students time texts in personal reflections and group activities.
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