Tapping Feet

by Moira Rose Donohue, Colin Bootman (Illustrator)

Overview

Slap! Flap! Tap! What’s that sound? That’s the sound of Tap! In the 1800s, African and Irish Americans found that they had something in common: Both cultures shared a love of dance. As people came together in New York City, the dance style “Tap” grew with each new dancer. New ideas and new moves were inspired by their personal cultures. Read along to hear about the blending of Irish and African backgrounds, and of course keep an ear out for Slaps, Flaps, and lots and lots of Taps!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478875925
Publisher:	Reycraft Books
Publication date:	05/15/2023
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.03(w) x 11.34(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	7 - 12 Years

About the Author

Colin Bootman was born in Trinidad, where the vibrant palette of the Caribbean influenced his painting. He moved to the United States when he was seven, where he studied art and illustration. Mr. Bootman has illustrated many books for children, winning the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award in 2004. In 2017, Mr. Bootman won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Works for Children. All of his award-winning illustrations show how brilliantly his art frames moments of life.

Editorial Reviews

2023-06-21
A look at the history of a well-known dance.

In the mid-1800s, Charles Dickens marveled at the fancy footwork of a formerly enslaved man who tapped on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. At the same time enslaved people were fleeing the South for New York City, Irish immigrants flocked to Manhattan to escape the potato famine. New York welcomed neither population, and their shared oppression and mutual love of dance brought them together. Irish Americans danced the jig with a stiff upper body; African Americans moved their whole bodies while tapping, even using some body parts as percussion instruments. As African American and Irish American dancers mixed and mingled in New York’s bustling Five Points neighborhood, William Henry Lane, a Black dancer nicknamed Master Juba, infused aspects of the Irish jig into his performance. Irish American Jack Diamond proposed a dance-off, and after Lane won, they performed together often. The book’s smaller font tells the nonfiction story, while the capitalized Broadway-like font offers a poetic, enticing commentary on tap. Lively images of George M. Cohan, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gregory Hines, and Savion Glover appear in the book, but oddly missing is Sammy Davis Jr., perhaps the most iconic Black TV tapper of the 20th century.

Inspirational and informative, this tale of two cultures might spark a love of tap in young readers. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews