Giraffes Can't Dance
Gerald the giraffe doesn't really have delusions of grandeur. He just  wants to dance. But his knees are crooked and his legs are thin, and all the  other animals mock him when he approaches the dance floor at the annual Jungle  Dance. "Hey, look at clumsy Gerald," they sneer. "Oh, Gerald, you're so weird."  Poor Gerald slinks away as the chimps cha-cha, rhinos rock 'n' roll, and  warthogs waltz. But an encouraging word from an unlikely source shows this glum  giraffe that those who are different "just need a different song," and soon he  is prancing and sashaying and boogying to moon music (with a cricket  accompanist). In the vein ofRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gerald's  fickle "friends" quickly decide he's worthy of their attention again.With this rhyming, poignant (in a cartoonish way) tale, Giles Andreae, author ofRumble in the Jungle, and  numerous other picture books, shows insecure young readers that everyone can be  wonderful, even those that march to the beat of a different cricket. The rhymes  are somewhat awkward, but the bold, bright watercolors by Guy Parker-Rees will  invite readers to kick up their heels and find their own internal harmony. (Ages  3 to 6)--Emilie Coulter