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"Giraffes Can't Dance" is my personal favorite among Max's books. The story is familiar to many kids who go to kindergarten and learn that their peers can be picky about who belongs to the pack and who does not. In the book, the exuberant illustrations of Guy Parker-Rees take the sting out of Gerald's initial rejection by the other animals. Watching the Rhinos rock'n'roll and the lions "dance a tango that was elegant and bold," balances Gerald's sadness. The emphasis of the story is on Gerald's joyful transformation, anyway. Just read Gerald's jubilant "I am dancing! Yes, I'm dancing! I AM DANCING!" with enough liveliness and watch the kids identify with a flying giraffe. After all, the lesson is that you can excel and enjoy who you are even if, at first, the world does not play your tune. With a little help from his friends, Gerald finds out that "sometimes when you're different you just need a different song."

Let me add one short paragraph on Gerald's helpful friends, the cricket and the three small bugs that are hiding on every page. These four little fellows are an ingenious device to soften the impact of the emotional story. Kids are in love with details; once they know what to look for, they will tirelessly search for the bugs and the cricket, and point them out to you. Hint: play dumb and they will have a party.

21 of 21 found the following review helpful:


Great story, cool illustrations, fun hide and seek  May 28, 2003
I bought this book for my 2 yr old and he loved the story from the beginning. After the first read we realized that the cricket was on every page of the book. Boy did we have fun looking for it on the second time around. After ten different readings we finally found all the crickets. the story is a good one when you watch your toddler show empathy for Gerald. I highly recommend this book!!

17 of 17 found the following review helpful:


Teacher's Favorite  Aug 27, 2001 By Karla
Gerald the giraffe simply wants to fit in with the other animals, but he feels as if he is inadequate because he can't dance like his friends. A wise friend tells him that he must listen for the right music. Gerald realizes that he, too, has the ability to dance. As a kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher, I look for books that will encourage validation of the child who feels different. I was excited to discover GIRAFFE'S CAN'T DANCE. It was perfect for my teacher staff development introduction.

13 of 14 found the following review helpful:


Okay for toddlers, better for preschoolers  Apr 24, 2003 By NK "NK"
Cute book about dancing - not an easy topic to find for toddlers who love dancing. Good read-aloud level for 2 year old, nice pictures, easy to follow story and a great John Travolta/Saturday Night Fever pose by Gerald at the end. Includes peer group of animals who laugh at the giraffe for not being able to dance, which is a social concept that I had reservations about exposing to our 2 year old but may be okay for an older preschooler. So, I read it with reservations at first, but it seems to be okay for him. However, he's not enjoying the book as much as I am and hasn't been interested in hearing it much beyond the first couple of times.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Good illustrations, pretty good story, nice message  Jan 06, 2006 By A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list"
I quite liked this book, my children LOVE it. The illustrations are amazing, they are nicely drawn, and the colour! It is extraodinarily rich and vibrant. I don't know if it simply that it suits the setting of this book which is Africa or if this is usual for this illustrator. Whatever the reason I will definitley be finding more of these books for my kids. My two girls spend ages looking at the pictures picking out the small details.

The story is nice. It is about Gerald the Giraffe who attends the annual dance but it laughed at by the other animals for being so clumsy. Gerald goes away humiliated, but he meets a cricket who teaches him to listen for his own special music, and that is the music he should dance to. Gerald listens and hears it, and then he starts to dance himself and it is wonderful, all the other animls come to watch and applaud.

So it has a nice positive message at the end of it too.

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