Product Description

What does an elephant do? It stomps its foot. Can you? From the creator of such beloved classics as The Grouchy Ladybug and The Mixed-Up Chameleon comes this interactive story that invites kids to imitate animal movements. Watching giraffes bend their necks or monkeys wave their arms is fun, but nothing could be better than joining in. From their heads down to their toes, kids will be wriggling, jiggling, and giggling as they try to keep up with these animals!Alligators wiggle, elephants stop, gorillas thump, and giraffes bend. Can you do it? ‘ I can do it!’ is the confidence-building message of this fun-filled interactive picture book. A variety of familiar animals invite young children to copy their antics, and as they play, they will learn such important skills as careful listening, focusing attention, and following instructions. Just as alphabet books introduce the very young child to letters and simple words, From Head to Toe introduces the basic body parts and simple body movements. And in the same way that children progress from understanding simple words to reading and writing sentences and stories, so they will progress from simple body movements to dancing, gymnastics, and other sports and activities, with confidence and pleasure.

Eric Carle's colorful collages have delighted children for more than a generation. Each book provides hours of fun while encouraging them to stretch their imaginations. His matchless words and illustrations now send out a new challenge:
Are you ready?
Here we go!
Move yourself
From Head to Toe.

A Main Selection of the Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8538 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-31
• Released on: 1999-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Board book
• 28 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As the artist's collages emulate animal movements, children will "eagerly clap, stomp, kick and wriggle their way through these pages," said PW. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreS. Animals and multiethnic children illustrate various body movements on large, double-page spreads. A giraffe bends its neck, a monkey waves its arms, etc. The repetitive text has the animal stating the movement and asking, "Can you do it?" Each child responds, "I can do it!" Carle's vivid cut-paper collages are striking and invite sharing individually or with a group. There is no story?rather the book is an invitation to get everyone moving. A nice addition to a toddler storytime, but it may get lost as it's cataloged in 613.7.?Lisa Smith, Lindenhurst Memorial Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 2^-4. Carle's signature strong collages are put to good use in this book about movement. In each two-page spread, a child is paired with an animal, and kids are invited to make the same movement as the duo. Usually, the movement is one that comes naturally to the animals--for instance, an elephant stomps its feet, and so does a girl with braids; a gorilla thumps its chest, and so does a young boy. (Sometimes the connection is more tenuous, such as the alligator wiggling its hips.) The oversize art set against expanses of white will intrigue young children, who will enjoy both seeing the art and doing their own movements. The book will work well in story hours: a bit of wiggling and thumping will make a pleasurable break in the listening. Most libraries will want to shelve this with picture books. Ilene Cooper

Customer Reviews

Great book!
My 18 month old son loves this book! He watched me do the movements as I read it and now he does them on his own when I read the book! Very cute and interactive.

Good "move around" type of story
In this book, various animals and children move parts of their body and encourage other children to do so.

Eric Carle is truly a master of this kind of text. Each spread follows the same repetitive structure - "I'm a $ANIMAL and I can $VERB my $BODYPART - can you? I can do it!" - which makes it very suitable both for young children learning to speak and older children figuring out how to read.

The only part I don't like is at the end, when the little boy says to his parrot (in a neat turnaround) "I am I, and I can wiggle my toe". It doesn't sound very idiomatic to me - I would say, in normal speech "I am me", or perhaps (in the form followed in the rest of the book) "I am a child" or "I am a person" or "I am a human".

This book is also, obviously good to encourage kids to move during a rainy-day storytime, or to let them move if they always are fidgeting during storytime.

Lots of Fun!
This is an excellent, fun book. My 2yr 7 month daughter mimics each of the animals. Its a lot of interactive fun!