Dancing Feet!

Clickity! Clickity! Long green feet!  
Who is dancing that clickity beat?

Lizard is dancing on clickity feet.  
Clickity! Clickity! Happy feet!

Introducing a get-up-and-dance toddler book-so catchy and rhythmic, you'll almost want to sing it.

Lindsey Craig's rollicking text features funny sound words (Tippity! Creepity! Stompity! Thumpity!), dancing animals, a singsong beat, and a guessing element just easy enough for preschoolers to anticipate. Marc Brown's artwork is bright, textured, and joyful, a collage of simple shapes for kids to find and name.

So grab a partner and tap your feet to this read-aloud picture-book treat.

Publishers Weekly

Consistently in step with newcomer Craig's toe-tapping narrative, Brown's cut-paper collages herald a fresh direction for his artwork. Recalling the simple yet sophisticated collage art of Leo Lionni (to whom Brown dedicates the book) and Eric Carle, the pictures introduce a cheerful menagerie of animals composed of basic shapes cut from hand-painted papers in an array of colors, textures, and patterns that recall everything from corrugated cardboard to exotic grasses. Celebrating movement and sound, the guessing-game story hints at the identity of each creature, initially seen retreating from the page, leaving footprints behind. Spontaneous, onomatopoeic verses ask questions that are answered with a page turn: “Tippity! Tippity!/ Little black feet!/ Who is dancing that tippity beat?” leads into a spread that reveals ladybugs cavorting among leaves and dappled orange flowers. An elephant's beat is “stompity,” ducks' is “slappity,” a caterpillar's is “creepity,” and a bear's is “thumpity.” In a satisfying finale, kids wearing clothing that mimics the appearance of the various animals demonstrate their own dancing feet. Fluid repetition and snappy rhythm make this a natural for reading aloud—noisily. Ages 1-4. (May)

Lindsey Craig grew up in a dancing and singing family. She often wakes up tapping her foot and hears music in everyday things, from honking cars to thrumming crickets. She has written a musical, and her children's play, Cinderella's Shakespeare, is performed nationwide. Dancing Feet! is her first foray into children's books. She lives with her husband and children on a small island in Washington State.

Marc Brown is the creator of Arthur, the star of many picture books and a six-time Emmy Award–winning PBS television show. He is also the illustrator of Buying, Training & Caring for Your Dinosaur, by Laura Joy Rennert, and the New York Times bestsellers Wild About Books and Born to Read, both by Judy Sierra. He lives on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City.