Penguin Cha-Cha

Penguin Cha-Cha written and illustrated by Kristi Valiant (2013)

Julia loved sit high in a tree and watch the Saturday shows at the zoo. One day, when a dancer lost her boa, Julia noticed a sneaky flipper snatch it away. She followed the penguins back to their cove, but she found no sign of the hats, fans, or bows. So she decided to disguise herself as a penguin and see if she couldn’t get to the bottom of this mystery. But she was disappointed when the penguins all stared at her  like frozen penguin popsicles. She even tried to elist the help of a dancing hippo, but the penguins didn’t budge. Giving it one last shot, Julia dressed up and taught the penguins how to dance the cha-cha. Suddenly she heard the sound of penguins dancing… ‘Tap, flap, cha-cha-cha. Tap, flap, cha-cha-cha.’ They danced all day long.

Kristi Valiant has brought to life the behind-the-scenes antics of dancing penguins. Her words and pictures tell us the story of those sneaky birds and their dancing secret. And if you watch carefully, you might see the tricky monkeys swipe the magician’s hat for their own.

I adore the whole idea of graceful dancing penguins. They seem so clumsy on land when we see them normally. I wonder what they are hiding and why. Share this book with your little budding dancers, and I bet you’ll find that penguins aren’t the only ones hiding their talent behind a frozen facade.