This Is Tap!

This picture book biography follows Savion Glover, a boy born with a natural feel for music who grows up to dance, perform, and invent, delighting audiences with the movement of his body. It also introduces tap dancing itself, an American art form that grew from a blend of English, Scottish, and Irish clog dancing with African dance traditions.

Once Savion discovers dance, he dances constantly, not as practice but as a way of living. The story traces his growth into a love of dance as self-expression. Castrovilla's rhyming text relies on onomatopoeia, so children and adults can read it aloud together while taking in the vivid illustrations by Laura Freeman, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor winner for Hidden Figures.

An afterword explores Glover's influence on the art form. He revitalized modern tap with a free-form, hard-core style shaped by jazz and hip-hop. His career includes appearances on Sesame Street, choreography for Happy Feet, and the Tony Award-winning musical Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, and he has inspired a new generation of tap dancers.