Dragon Dancing by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Pierr Morgan.
This toddler-friendly picture book combines multiculturalism, creativity and pure imagination. It is Mei Lin’s birthday. Her teacher reads a book about dragons, and the children create a Birthday Dragon from paper, string, feathers and tape. As they dance around the room, the dragon in their imaginations forms around them, becoming more and more life-like. Until the teacher calls them back, and they get birthday dragon treats to eat.
The book is filled with great sound words like whish-whoosh and great action words like creep-crouching. The illustrations are bright, engaging and filled with movement. If you work with a group of busy toddlers, this book will lend itself to allowing them to move with the words. What is creep-crouching? What does swirl-whirling look like? And what sounds can they make to match the sounds in the book? Sounds like good fun to me! And what a treat that it also teaches about imagination, sharing and creativity.