I Am a Dancer

  • Interest Level: Kindergarten - Grade 3
  • Reading Level: Grade 2

Poet Pat Lowery Collins shows children that their everyday motions—catching a ball, reaching up to a shelf, or shuffling through the rain—can contain all of the elements of a dance. Mark Graham’s lovely oil paintings give the reader a new appreciation of the beauty of natural movements.

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978-0-7613-4020-1
$24.99
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Interest Level Kindergarten - Grade 3
Reading Level Grade 2
Genre Picture Books, Social Studies
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Millbrook Press ™
Language English
Publication Date 2008-01-01
Text Type Informational/Explanatory
BISACS JNF039020
Dewey 792.62
Graphics Full-color illustrations
Lexile 550
Guided Reading Level O
Features Reviewed

Author: Pat Lowery Collins

Pat Lowery Collins is a poet, painter, and the author of many books for children and young adults including the Reading Rainbow selection, I Am An Artist, and the recent sequel, I Am a Dancer. Her newest historical novels are Hidden Voices, The Orphan Musicians of Venice and Daughter of Winter, both published by Candlewick Press. The latter is a Must Read Finalist for the Mass Book Award. Her young adult novel in free verse, The Fattening Hut, won the Boston Author's Club 2004 Julia Ward Howe Award and was a Book Sense Pick and ALA Amelia Bloomer choice. A picture book, The Deer Watch, is also forthcoming from Candlewick. She teaches in Lesley University's MFA program in creative writing and lives and works in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her Website is www.patlowerycollins.com and she can be reached to schedule a Skype visit at patlc@comcast.net.

Illustrator: Mark Graham

Reviews

Booklist

“In spare, upbeat, accessible poetry, a speaker describes how every day brings opportunities to move in tune to the world’s rhythms – from the quick beat of sports action to the ‘steady drip-blip of rain.’ Bold acrylic paintings illustrate the poem, which is printed in just a few lines on each page.”
Booklist

The Horn Book Guide

“This paean to movement uses spare, sophisticated, lyrical text to describe a child’s vision: ‘Sometimes I am a dancer / to a silent throb / that makes me / spin and sway / and try to fly.’”
The Horn Book Guide

School Library Journal

“Graham’s beautiful oil paintings are filled with solidly built children on the move, while some of the backgrounds are almost ethereal. Even the brushstrokes convey action. This book is a lovely merging of art and poetry and gives a delightful sense of joyful motion.”
School Library Journal