Books like Giraffes Can't Dance
By Giles Andreae
Every kid roots for Gerald in Giraffes Can't Dance, the giraffe with the wrong knees who can't find his rhythm until one small voice tells him to try anyway. By the last page your kid is probably swaying along, cheering like it's their own dance floor. Here are more books for that same kind of cheering.
A poodle growing up among three talented bulldog brothers isn't sure what makes her special — until Gaston's sister Ooh-La-La goes missing in the park and Antoinette feels a pull to find her.
Same rhyming nudge toward courage, but Be Brave Little Penguin by Giles Andreae is all about water instead of a dance floor.
Gerald finds courage to move his body. Cowardly Clyde by Bill Peet finds courage without ever feeling brave inside, which is its own kind of honest.
A tiny, overlooked mouse longs to roar like Lion, so he musters his courage and climbs the mighty rock to ask Lion himself for lessons in being brave.
Same swell of pride, but The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin skips the dance floor entirely and just speaks straight to who your kid might become.
Gerald just wanted to dance his way. Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins by Michelle Meadows shows what that costs when the world keeps saying no.
Gerald learns to love his own crooked knees. Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration by Samara Cole Doyon stretches that same feeling into a full celebration of the skin you're already in.
Gerald proves himself on the dance floor. In Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, a girl proves it by taking the stage role everyone said wasn't hers.
No dancing, no plot at all. Dear Girl: A Celebration of Wonderful, Smart, Beautiful You! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is straight encouragement, page after page, aimed right at your kid.
Messy hair, beaver breath, so what. I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont turns self-acceptance into something loud and giggly rather than quiet and gentle.
Gerald finds his groove on the dance floor. Vashti finds hers with a marker and a blank page in The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.
Another animal mocked for being different who ends up leading the pack. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May adds sleigh bells and a Christmas Eve payoff.
