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.