#ReadItMD13 Theme Week - "Dance and Movement" - Spotlight on "Picture Books and Pirouettes", a fabulous blog by Kerry Aradhya

A blissfully wonderful panel from "Oliver Button is a Sissy" by Tomie dePaola

For our #ReadItMD13 theme week, we issued a plaintive cry on Twitter for books that feature dance and movement - and in particular include boys. There's no reason why the boys should feel left out when it comes to dance and movement (Charlotte's school has some amazing street dance classes that are well attended by boys who have picked up on fab performance artists from stage and screen).

The wonderful Zoe over at Playing By The Book put us in touch with the equally wonderful Kerry Aradhya who has put together the definitive source of dance and movement-based books on her brilliant blog "Picture Books and Pirouettes".

If anyone would know where to look for books about dance and movement that show boys needn't feel left out, Kerry would - and she came up trumps with a fantastic set of recommendations.

Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola (Harcourt)

"Oliver Button is a Sissy" by Tomie dePaola is a great book with a strong message. Oliver prefers books, painting, drawing and also tap dancing - yet he is ostracised and teased about these things by children at school who think boys should be into rough-and-tumble play and sports. Empathising with Oliver, this is a book I feel duty bound to hunt out as soon as I can - though it's fairly old now, it's amazing how relevant the book's content and message is even today. It is still in print (hooray!) and available from Harcourt Publishers.

"Max" by Rachel Isadora. So full of energy it practically leaps around your tabletop!

Next on Kerry's recommendation list is "Max" by Rachel Isadora. As you can tell from the fabulous cover, it's an energetic book featuring a brilliant and engaging character - that will have you hooked from front cover to back. Max is a baseball fanatic but when he wants to warm up for games, rather than stretches and running about, Max discovers his sister's dance class is the perfect way to get fit and enjoy movement.

Again, it's an oldie but a goodie (first published back in 1984), again with plenty of relevance for today's young readers.

What's next Kerry?

"Ballerino Nate" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and R.W. Alley (Dial Publishing)

How about a balletic wolf with a style all his own? "Ballerino Nate" (Nate the Ballerina) is a fab story about Nate the wolf, who absolutely wants nothing more than to become brilliant at ballet. Despite his older brother's teasing, Nate sets out on a determined path to prove everyone wrong - and once and for all show that boys CAN enjoy ballet too!

That's just a small selection of the books that Kerry recommended. If you're interested in dance and movement, and want to find the planet's best resource for children's books on the subject, you really need to visit "Picture Books and Pirouettes" as it's utterly chock full of brilliant content, with regular roundups and recommendations from Kerry and other bloggers. Come join the fun!