Elephants Cannot Dance: Library Notes

Wrong information sometimes creeps into our day and steals our courage or our belief in our ability to do something.  That is what happened to Elephant who read in his book that elephants cannot dance!  When invited by Piggie to learn some dance moves, he does not even want to try.  He was discouraged even before he started!  So often our children experience this in their lives and we need to be their encouragers and cheerleaders just as Piggie was for Elephant.  

See E is for Exclamations in speech and encouragement from May 20th's blog for more on how to encourage others. This subject is also part of what I wanted to convey when I mentioned the ANTs (automatic negative thoughts).  One of the ants is the "I CAN'T" ant.  It is just one of those beliefs that pops into our mind and we need to change the conversation as Piggie did when she commented that the book did not say elephants cannot TRY to dance.  We need to be willing to try and even to fail on our road to success.  We simply do not master something the first time we attempt it the majority of times and so some struggle is to be anticipated.  The success comes from the effort.  In the end, Elephant still believed that it was too hard and he was not good at this but then Piggie had new students who wanted to learn Elephant's moves, not hers!  Encouraged, he then became their cheerleader as they tried something new.

In the book, it stands out that Piggie is a good friend.  She encourages her friend with a positive viewpoint and stands by with words of encouragement and when her friend was sad, she put spending time with him first.  She gives priority to him to help him the best she could.  I appreciate that example in this book.  Another aspect of the book that I really like is that the process of learning is fun for everyone when they have a good attitude about trying something new.  This book is full of physical activities to keep children active as they follow along.  A natural follow up to this book would be to have a dance party and share your moves with one another in a fun and supportive way. You can even echo Elephant's exclamations!  "Keep trying!", "You're getting it!" and "More feeling!"

Mo Willems has a number of books featuring Piggie and Elephant.  They are simply written with large print and early reading level vocabulary.  I was excited that this was the first one I chose and it fit so well to also affirm our need to encourage others, defeat ANTs in our lives and to learn more about elephants too! Did you know?  Elephants CAN dance!  You too can have fun as you dance in your own way!

Interestingly, the alternative book I had in mind is called "Don't think about purple elephants".  It connects to the topic too in that it talks about NOT dwelling on those ANTS (automatic negative thoughts) that sneak up and stops us in our tracks.  For those interested, that book is about learning how to practice replacing the bad thoughts with funny ones because the more you think about something that is worrying you, the harder it is to overcome the worry.  Both books would make good reads that teach important concepts to our children.  That is part of the power of literacy.  Learning new skills through books and the discussions and learning that take place as a result are profound and meaningful and worth the investment of our time and energy as we help build these reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the children in your lives.