Rap A Tap Tap

Dillon, D, & Dillion, L. (2002). Rap a tap tap. New York, NY: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.

I picked this book because I have seen it in many classrooms but I have never had the chance to experience the book myself.  A few weeks ago I noticed it as a big book in one of the first grade classrooms.  The teacher hadn't used it yet this school year so I thought I would borrow it and get a good feel of the book so that when it comes time to use the book I could have some of my own ideas to bring to the table when planning activities.  I love big books but unfortunately I don't own a single one, as a special education teacher I have limited space in my resource room and in the past with such a short time I spend in the resource room I just don't get around to using them, but this will be changing! Rap a Tap Tap is written and illustrated by married couple Leo and Diane Dillon.  The picture book earned the Corretta Scott King Award.  

The story is set around the 1930's in New York City.  The main character Mr. Bojangles is a tap dancer who entertains all different types of people as he dances through the streets of New York City.  Mr. Bojangles is African-American and from the illustrations you can see people of all different skin colors. He dances for rich people, poor people, and even children.  The book makes it clear that Mr. Bojangles dances to make people smile, to entertain! (Entertain is an example of a new vocabulary word to use!)


The illustrations are fascinating! They are a style very unique to some more traditional picture books.  There are no lines used to create the pictures, people and surroundings are created through Leo and Diane's use of shape.  The Dillons painted simple shapes on each page to create the pictures.  There are no outlined facial expressions, just open mouth smiles on all of the peoples' faces.  The Dillons used a lighter shade to create a shadow effect around Mr. Bojangles' body in each picture to depict him dancing.  

There are endless ways to connect this story to the curriculum.  For Social Studies the teacher could cover African-American culture, discuss the different societies within a city (rich people in fancy clothes, poor people living in the "skids").  You could also connect this to Arts and Humanities - music, dance.  

What sticks out most to me is the use of rhyme and repetition in the text.  Every other page/sentence ends with rhyming words, the teacher could explain how the words rhyme and how to read with rhyming words.  An extremely important learning target we use on a day to day basis is: "I can make my reading sound like talk".  Every other page/sentence rhymes which gives the teacher an easy way to model examples of making reading sound like talk.  In between each rhyming sentence/page, the following page reads, "Rap a tap tap - think of that!".  This sentence is repeated on every other page so using the big book, the teacher could encourage the students to read along while following the words on the page.