Song and Dance Man: (Caldecott Medal Winner) (Dragonfly Books)

One of my kids favorite books of all time and now I was able to buy it again for my granddaughter.

Loved this sweet story where Grandpa shows his grandchildren a bit of who he was in the “old days”. Too often, our children don’t care to hear about the stories of our incredible feats when we were younger but this story is testimony to the fact that young adventurous brave hotshots become the Grandpas of tomorrow. Never underestimate the talents and knowledge of those older than you- they were just as dazzling then as you consider yourself to be now in your youth.

This is a beautifully illustrated story about three children and their grandfather who, whenever they come to visit, takes them into the attic, where he opens an old Vaudeville trunk, takes out his tap shoes, hat, cane, and other objects, and proceeds to entertain them with dance and magic tricks. The children clap and enjoy the show, and the book shows that there is a special bond between children and grandparents, who take the time to play with them, entertain them, and tell them about the past.Where the story doesn't ring true for me is when the children say things like: "But as he turns off the attic light, Grandpa glances back up the stairs, and we wonder how much he really misses that time on the vaudeville stage, when he was a song and dance man." This seems like a very adult observation.

This is a wonderful book! It’s an older book, but the one I just purchased looks never used/read. Slightly aged, but excellent condition. I was thrilled to find it. I have the copy I purchased 20+ years ago for my son & I read it to a little 2 year old boy that really liked the story so I wanted to give him his own copy as my son’s copy will go to his children some day.

This is a book I read to my children when they were small and now that my daughter has a four year old she wanted it to read to her. How wonderful to have a book that stands the test of time. I could not find our old copy and I was so happy to find it still available for this next generation to enjoy.

With a peep into the past, it's also the best of good old-fashioned values. A really warm, sweet, and simple story of just having fun - as a family, intergenerationally and without electronic noise. And the book is not heavy-handed, but the story sends a message about fun - and how we can all create fun without props and just our own voices and body and each other - is a good, and needed, one for both children and adults. I bought it for my 28-month-old and highly recommend this book - it leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside and is just a good, clean, nice story.

Love this book! I bought several of them to use in a Literature Circle for some of my higher reading 1st graders! I was first introduced to this book when I was student teaching in 2nd grade 13 years ago. Just a great book!!

I am a K teacher. My kids enjoy this book during our family unit. My 3 yr old boy enjoys it as well. In a world full of copy only talent, this book allows for discussion about music, dance, performance, stage, arts, musicals, and of course, grandparents. The pictures are captivating making the kids want to investigate the pages closely, and they prompt questions. Again, it's a very sweet and meaningful story.

A moving little book and my five year old grandson loved it and talked about it.

My 8 year old son is a natural, born performer, dancing and singing. Like many other young boys he hasn’t had many real life male role models/teachers, so I bought this for him. After I finished reading it, he said ‘Do you think I will be the song and dance man?’… he loved it as it normalises the performing arts for males.

Wasn't what I thought it would be. Nice illustrations but story wouldn't suit young children