Kids’ Music for Libraries will be launching in September!

I’m going to review a year’s worth of albums in two months!

That may sound ambitious, but really it means I’m going to be selective.  I’m working on round one eliminations as I write this.  Be on the lookout for some content within a couple weeks.

Little Movers storytime is for 2 to 5 year olds who like to get up and move around.  There are stories, movement activities, songs, and musical instruments.  Sitting still is kept to a minimum.

Books we’ve used:

• Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney
  (Can be used as a warm-up; it might not work well with a rambunctious group.)
• Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats, or another adaptation
  (Use as an alternate warm-up; emphasize how steady the beat is.)
• Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb
  (Read with a deliberate rhythm; have them repeat each line after you.)
• Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka
  (Again, some of these lines are repeatable in rhythm.)

Other options:

• Boom Chicka Rock by John Archambault (text) and Suzanne Tanker Chitwood (art)
• THUMP, THUMP, Rat-a-Tat-Tat by Gene Baer (text) and Lois Ehlert (art)

Activity:

What can we do with sticks?  A lot, actually!  Tapping, scraping, and drumming the floor are the classics, but you can throw in variations such as fast/slow, soft/loud, up/down, in front/behind, etc.  Give them names, like “The Hammer” and “The Bulldozer.”  You can put this activity to music, like ”If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

Source:  101 Rhythm Instrument Activities for Young Children – an essential resource!

Songs for sticks:

Clapping becomes tapping—luckily they rhyme.

• “Ambos a Dos (Puerto Rico)” from Multicultural Rhythm Stick Fun
  (Easy to follow, compared to the other songs on the album.)
• “Clap and Count” by the Blankies, from Action
• “Clap It” by Bari Koral Family Rock Band, from Rock and Roll Garden
• “Rhythm Safari” by SteveSongs, from Music Time with SteveSongs

Songs to play/dance to:

• “Charlie Parker” by Frances England, from Fascinating Creatures
• “Yes, We Have Rhythm” by Lunch Money, from Silly Reflection

If you have ideas for additional books or songs that fit the theme, please leave them in the comments!

Little Movers storytime is for 2 to 5 year olds who like to get up and move around.  There are stories, movement activities, songs, and musical instruments.  Sitting still is kept to a minimum.

If you have ideas for additional books or songs that fit the theme, please leave them in the comments!

Books to read:

These books all lend themselves to identifying body parts, and moving them around a bit (with direction).

• All of Me: A Book of Thanks by Molly Bang
• Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes: A First Book All about You by Judy Hindley (text) and Brita Granström (art)
• Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault (text), and Ted Rand (art)

Songs to sing:

• “The Hokey Pokey”
• “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

Songs to play:

• “Bellybutton Stays the Same” – Coal Train Railroad, from self-titled
• “Clap Your Hands” – Mary Timony, from Play
• “Everybody Clap Your Hands” – Michael Rachap, from Songeez
• “Fingers and Toes” – Milkshake, from Happy Songs
• “Head, Nose, Belly Button, Toes” – The Blankies, from Action
• “Let’s Shake” – Dan Zanes and Friends, from Catch That Train!
• “Look at My Belly” – Brady Rymer, from Look at My Belly
• “This Is Your Body” – Baze and His Silly Friends, from Toddlerville
• “Your Body’s an Instrument” – Charity and the JAMband, from JAM

Originally posted at the Art of Irreverence on 02/18/2010.

The School Library Journal May multimedia review has been posted on their website.  This month’s music-related reviews are:

• Meet the Instruments! (2 DVDs) by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer
• Be a Friend: Songs for Social Skills Training (CD) by Jed Baker and Jeffrey Friedberg
• A Cow Says Moock (CD) by Alastair Moock
• Famliy Photograph (CD) by Dreyer Family Band
• Good Things Happen (CD) by Les Julian
• Hello Night (CD) by Kesang Marstrand
• Jazz Playground (CD) by Putumayo Kids
• Party like a Twinkle Star (2 CDs) by Charity and the JAMband
• Road to Rock (CD) by the Boogers
• Sugar on Top (CD) by Dre Towey
• Take Your Voice Out of Your Pocket: Songs for Children, Sung by Children (CD) by Pierino dell’Avo
• We’re Not Kidding: A Tribute to Barry Louis Polisar (2 CDs) by various artists
• Why Does Gray Matter?…and Other Brainy Songs for Kids! (CD) by Roger Day

Hint:  Use CTRL+F or scroll to the bottom for the CD reviews; they used the same anchor name (#Music) for the audio and video reviews, and they’re half a page apart.

My family and I are headed to Brooklyn this weekend for Kindiefest, which means a number of hours in the car.  We’ll be spinning a lot of tunes, but rather than yielding to shuffle mode from the start, we’ve put together a car travel playlist to keep us in good spirits.  Our songs range from packing to arriving, with several of the “are we there yet?” variety for good measure:

• “Backpack” by Bari Koral Family Rock Band, from Rock and Roll Garden
• “Going Away” by Lisa Loeb, from Camp Lisa
• “Art Car” by the Hipwaders, from Educated Kid
• “Let’s Go Everywhere” by Medeski, Martin and Wood, from Let’s Go Everywhere
• “Road Trip” by Brady Rymer, from Here Comes Brady Rymer and the Little Band that Could
• “Travellin’” by Charity and the JAMband, from Rock Your Socks Off
• “Reading Road Trip, USA!” by Steve Blunt, from Outta School!
• “Are We There Yet?” by Bunny Clogs, from More! More! More!
• “Go, Go, Go!” by Princess Katie and Racer Steve, from Fast and Feisty
• “Road Trip” by Ellis Paul, from The Dragonfly Races
• “Are We There Yet?” by Judy Pancoast, from Weird Things Are Everywhere
• “Trip around the World” by King Pajama, from Something Sweet
• “Take Me Ridin’ in the Car” by Brendan Taaffe, from Little Boots
• “Travel Far” by Milkshake, from Great Day
• “Travelin’ Man” by the Jellydots, from Changing Skies
• “Electric Car” by They Might Be Giants, from Here Comes Science
• “Waiting” by Mary Kaye, from Spin Your Web
• “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Song” by Astrograss, from Let Me Stay Up All Night

Did I miss something?  Let us know in the comments!

Image credit:  “Decorated Saab car as sculpture” by Flickr user Chris Devers, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 license.

The winners of the Parents’ Choice Awards audio category were announced last Thursday.  These are the titles that earned a gold seal (the links go to Parents’ Choice reviews):

• 76 Trombones by Dan Zanes
• Ranky Tanky by Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem
• Great Day by Milkshake
• I’m a Rock Star by Joanie Leeds
• Jazz Playground by Putumayo Kids
• Pocketful of Wonder by Sarah Pirtle
• Why Does Gray Matter? by Roger Day
• People, Places and Things by In the Nick of Time
• Rise and Shine by Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke
• Go Waggaloo by Sarah Lee Guthrie

And those are just the Gold Awards. There are also Silver Honors, Recommended Seals, and Approved Seals, for a total of 50 titles.  There are a lot of good albums on the list, so check them out!

I haven’t updated my personal blog for weeks, without excuse.  Without offering one, I mean.  I do have an excuse, and this is it, this website:  Kids’ Music for Libraries.  I hope I’ve designed it navigably enough that I don’t have to tell you what you can expect to find here (once I accumulate some content).  Instead, I’ll tell you why you’re finding it.

The first precipitant for this site came a couple months ago, shortly after the ALSC’s 2010 Notable Children’s Recordings list came out.  I wrote two self-reflective posts about the role of music in youth collection development, and also why I blog:

“My driving force is to let anyone and everyone know about the best in family music, but . . . I need to consider addressing other librarians. . . . Most children’s librarians have better things to do than sit around reading my blog.  Where and how will I reach my peers, and what’s the road to credibility?”  [source]

The second precipitant came just a few days later, when Michael Rachap of Readeez fame left me a Facebook comment:

“So, you’re a librarian:  How does one (okay, how do I) go about getting my kids DVDs and CDs into the hands of libraries across this great land?  What are your best sources for learning about, and procuring, new media?”

I couldn’t come up with an adequate response.  I didn’t think “We get everything from Midwest” would sound very professional, however accurate (thank you, “approved vendor” restrictions).  The only print review source we get in our department is School Library Journal, and I don’t know which others might have children’s media reviews.  Blogs are my main source of reviews, but I don’t think most librarians have time to read them all.  (I know I don’t!  I usually peruse them after hours.)

Then it occurred to me that I could create a professional resource, at least for music.  It was an epiphany that I immediately dismissed as too much of a time investment, but the idea stuck.  I started thinking of ways to draw people in, and ways to invite collaboration, and I ended up getting excited about it.  So here we are.  Stick around, or check back in a month and see what we’ve got going!