I was sad to hear of Jan Ormerod’s death last week, her books have given pleasure to me and to many readers over the years. One of our favourite books, written by Jan Ormerod and Lindsey Gardiner, is Doing the Animal Bop.
The Story: A little mouse (who is not mentioned at all in the text) joins a succession of animals in a variety of dance moves.
I have read Doing the Animal Bop with my daughter, read it to young children at our local playgroup and successfully used it with non native English speaking children in school. The book introduces children to a range of animals (some more familiar than others) and the bold, colourful pictures are full of action and very funny (have you ever seen a lizard trying to dance?!). The rhyming text flows beautifully and is very easy to read. However, to get the full Animal Bop experience the accompanying CD is a must. It has a very catchy tune that you just can’t help dancing to and brings the whole book to life. This is a book to move to and although it can also be read at bedtime I find it difficult to read calmly (especially once you have experienced the CD!).
Doing the Animal Bop introduces some wonderful language, it would be a great story for children to rewrite using their own animals. A class ‘Animal Bop’ maybe!
Age Range: 1 +
Author: Jan Ormerod / Author/Illustrator: Lindsey Gardiner
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