Dance, Pioneer, Dance!

Pioneers and animals join in the dancing and the fun during a journey across the plains.

Grade 1-4?As he did in Noah's Square Dance, (Lothrop, 1995), Walton once again casts a religious figure as a square-dance caller. This time, with a tad more credibility, he puts Brigham Young in the narrator's role, even though the leader is curiously absent from these colorful, rustic, and cartoon-framed paintings. Like most folk, Mormons like to dance?it's even prescribed by Young in an introductory quote as a way to "tire their bodies." This fanciful rhythmic tune, accompanied by a wide-eyed fiddler, blends some square-dance commands with a bit of Mormon history. In particular, this 1847 pioneer dance provides nighttime respite from the hardships of cross-country travel for the 148 church members heading from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Great Salt Lake. The mood is joyful and Teare's illustrations are lively, portraying amazingly energetic pioneers who even invite the fauna to kick up their heels in celebration. Teachers can use the handful of Mormon-migration references as an introduction to this American-born Christian sect or read it aloud just for fun. Exuberant and whimsical.?John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview,
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Ages 5^-8. Walton's rollicking verses recall the westward journey to Utah of the first Mormon party in 1847. With Brigham Young serving as caller for this square dance rhyme, men, women, and children--as well as an assortment of horses, lizards, cows, buffalo, pigs, bears, and chickens--all partake in the merriment. Teare's colorful illustrations complement the whimsical text and somehow manage to make square-dancing grizzlies and clarinet-playing buffalo look right at home with campfires and Conestogas. Although there's no real information about the historic trip, an afterword clarifies the authentic characters mentioned. A pleasant reminder that even august pioneers had their lighter moments; pair this with Christine Graham's When Pioneer Wagons Rumbled West, reviewed on p.236, for a more serious look at life on the Mormon Trail. Kay Weisman