Earthdance

by Joanne Ryder

Book Overview

In the children's picture book Earthdance, Joanne Ryder's lyrical poetry and Norman Gorbaty's colorful art invites young readers to become not just part of the earth, but Earth itself.

Told from the perspective of the planet Earth, this inventive and imaginative illustrated poem takes you on a tour of the world's environments from oceans and mountains to grasslands and glaciers where you'll meet a variety of people and animals...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805062319
• ISBN13: 9780805062311
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.9" x 12.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

Love this book!!!

My 8 year old daughter & I love to read this book together! What a great way to connect to mother earth through the love of books/reading.

Beautiful! And my 20 students agree!

I picked this story up in the Spring to read to my first grade class around Earth Day. First I read it to them with the illustrations, and then we read it a second time, with the children closing their eyes and visualizing. They loved this and produced the most amazing drawings, with writing of how they'd dance upon the Earth. I recommend this book highly to parents or teachers for a variety of reasons: It is beautiful, it inspires imagination, and it reflects love for the Earth.

Incredibly moving book!

Not knowing the subject of this book, I sat down to read "Earth Dance" out loud to my young daughter (not because she can't read, but because we enjoy reading to each other). I began as I usually begin a book -- finding the passion in the words and the mood of the illustrations as I read out loud. I was immediately enchanted by the beauty of the words in this poem, and so moved by the message that, to my surprise, tears began to well in my eyes! I was reading the line "You are twirling so gracefully, carefully, not even the sand moves as you spin..". Surprised by my reaction, I looked through my own teary eyes into (surprise again!)the teary eyes of my ten-year-old daughter. She was as deeply affected as I! That truly is the hallmark of a good poet and artist, who can touch your heart and mind so completely with words.Hours later, still deeply affected by the story, illustrations, and our reaction to them, I realized that I had just experienced a gentle magic moment, no small thing for an adult who has read a hundred children's books. I cannot say enough about how good this book is --for children and the adults who read to them. To the mothers of future ecologists, future artists, future parents...to all the readers of Joanne Ryder's Earth Dance: dance slowly, spin gently, and carry this book home to share with all the children of our precious Earth.