Building Reading Practice

Excerpt from The Book: "Hippo Wants to Dance"

Hippo wants to dance. She jumps up and down on the dusty ground.JUMP! JUMP!“You’re getting dirt on me!” says the caterpillar, sleeping in the sand. “Go dance somewhere else.”Hippo wants to dance. She rolls into the river and splashes her arms and legs.SPLISH!“You’re making me wet!” Says Kingfisher, hunting for her breakfast.“Go dance somewhere else.”Hippo wants to dance. She jumps around and around in a field, kicking her legs up high.SWOOSH!“Be careful! You nearly kicked me!” says Meerkat, washing his babies.“Go dance somewhere else.”Hippo wants to dance. She walks into a puddle of mud and slides around on her nice big belly.SQUISH! SQUASH!“Why don’t you stop dancing?” asks Donkey, carrying his buckets.“Why can’t you do something useful instead?”Hippo is sad. She is too sad to dance.She sits on a rock and cries. The tears roll down her cheeks and fall on the ground.The Grasshopper hears her tears, And starts dancing around her feet.Hippo and Grasshopper start to dance, and the other animals come to look.They are happy dancing together.