Baby Danced the Polka

This book has been my daughter's favorite since she was about 10 months old. She is now 17 months old and always brings this book to you before bedtime. It has a nice meter and flow to it, making it fun to read. I would highly recommend this book. I have given it as a gift several times.

Slowly but surely, book by book, title by title, author Karen Beaumont is making a name for herself. She started out slowly with amusing titles like "Duck Duck Goose (A Coyote's On the Loose)" and the justifiably forgotten "Being Friends". Then, recently, she's been picking up speed. Producing books that, with the right illustrators, bring fully to life her bouncy trouncy rhythms. Beaumont isn't afraid of a little rhyme and rhythm. By the time I got around to reading "Baby Danced the Polka" I found that I'd been missing one of the hottest rhyming children's writers alive today. We can only hope that this inventive streak she's showing is the real thing and not a momentary fluke. In "Baby Danced the Polka" you've got a lot of kid-friendly elements all jouncing around together. This book shimmies and shakes, is about a kid who doesn't want to take a nap (something so many little ones can identify with), has a beat to it, and falls into the category of lift-the-flap books. The story takes place on a sleepy farm where a mother and father have chores to do, so they put their little baby to sleep. Just the same, the baby in question isn't about to settle down for the afternoon. It proceeds to dance the polka, the boogie-woogie, the cha-cha, and the shooby-dooby with a whole host of stuffed animals. Though its parents keep insisting it go to bed, this babe can't help but put on its dancing shoes. By the end, he's convinced both Mama and Pa, so all three members of the family dance until it's night. Then, at long last, the baby goes to bed, "With dreams of polka parties / Still a-dancing in his head". I reviewed a children's book of poetry not long ago where other reviewers complained that the poems didn't scan correctly. No such problem exists here. Beaumont has a golden ear for fun and funny preschool comedy. Kids will have a hard time resisting an infant who wants to strut and shimmy while all the time clothed in jammies. Also, the book isn't afraid to slide into silliness on occasion. At one point the "chores" performed by the parents include, "... Papa shaved his whiskers / And Mama washed her wig". Washed her wig? Illustrator Jennifer Plecas (who I already loved due to her "Good Night, Good Knight") is in fine form here as well. This baby has moves. Admittedly, the polka doesn't look much like a polka and the cha-cha could use some work. It would've been nice to see actual honest-to-goodness dance moves within this book's pages. Ah well. For a storytime of true dance fever you might want to consider pairing this rhythmic coup with other bouncy farm tales like, "Dumpy La Rue" by Elizabeth Winthrop or "Barn Dance!" by Bill Martin. For its own part, "Baby Danced the Polka" is going to be deeply loved by scores and scores of children everywhere. If you know a small child who loves music and movement, this book's a sure-fire hit. Gets 'em every time.

We first checked this book out of our library when my daughter was about 15 months old. She loved loved loved it, and it's funny enough for both my husband and I to read it several times a day without pulling our hair out. After we checked it out for 3 month long stays at our house, I finally bought it. Now my daughter has it memorized and you can hear her all over the house "WHOA Papa's long johns! WHOA Mama's wig! "GO!" Baby polka-ed with the polka dotted pig!" All three of us highly recommend it!

When he wants to read, my thirteen month old pulls this book out of a bag of about 2 dozen books. He rocks back and forth to the rhythm of the words and gets excited when it is time for him to lift the flap to see the baby dancing with an animal. We originally checked out this book from the library, but are adding it to our home library now.

Your preschooler will choose this as a favorite book as you turn the pages filled with colorful pictures and fun rhymes. There is a flap to lift every so often that will have your preschooler helping you when you read it a second and third and........time. You can't lose with this one!