M Is For Music

Be it lullabies, folk songs, singing ABC’s or opera, music influences our children’s lives. Music unites, teaches, shares stories, and shapes personalities. Note by note, this collection of titles will encourage your children to read about music, its composers and performers. A word of caution: reading these books may lead your children to start using pots and pans as drums or bursting into song without warning.

Hush Songs
Ages: Infant - 5 yrs.
Author: Joyce Carol Thomas   Illustrator: Brenda Jay Smith  
Hyperion Books for Children, $15.99 (Hard Cover)   

This is a lovely way for parents to introduce African American lullabies to their children. Joyce Carol Thomas has collected ten songs, most traditional, a few original and given insightful introductions. Thomas provides the lyrics and music for each lullaby. The songs are accompanied by lush illustrations by popular artist Brenda Joy Smith.

The Worst Band in the Universe
Ages: All Ages
Author: Graeme Base   Illustrator: Graeme Base  
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., $19.95 (Hard Cover)   

Alien fantasies come and go, but this one has focus. Base has created a universe where music, or the lack thereof, separates the planets and gives them their distinct personalities. It's all about freedom of musical expression, as Sprocc, a young Splingtwanger-player enters the annual competition for Worst Band in the Universe, a true award of honor. Base's rhyming verse is delicious fun, and there is the added bonus of a CD of intergalactic songs, composed and performed by the author himself. This is a gift of cosmic proportions and hours of fun.  Lullabies: An Illustrated Songbook
Ages: All Ages
Compiled By: Richard Kapp  
Harcourt Trade Publishers/Gulliver, $25.00 (Hard Cover)   

This is a superb collection of 37 lullabies accompanied by easy piano arrangements and glorious works of art.  Rattlesnake Dance
Ages: 2 - 6 yrs.
Author: Jim Arnosky  
Penguin Putnam/Putnam, $15.99 (Hard Cover)   

With simple rhythmic words and bold, playful illustrations, the author gives us a peek into the undulating world of the rattlesnake. The snakes are an entrancing mix of Arnosky the naturalist and Arnosky the humorist. Even the youngest will happily sway and “rattle” along with the book. Not a story but a song (written music included) and a dance, these snakes are mesmerizing and movement will be irresistible. The Story of the Incredible Orchestra
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Bruce Koscielniak  
Houghton Mifflin Co., $15.00 (Hard Cover)   

This labor of love by an artist/musician will tell interested children all about the development of musical instruments from 1600 to the present.  The Music in Derrick's Heart
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert   Illustrator: Colin Bootman  
Holiday House, Inc., $16.95 (Hard Cover)   

This joyful tale of a budding musician includes details of the Deep South-- pecan trees, bare feet, and sweltering sunshine. Uncle Booker T. teaches Derrick how to play the harmonica, and Derrick takes his job of learning very seriously. He even sleeps with his instrument. The story conveys respect for elders, music, and hard work. The illustrations, which are done in oil pastel, capture shadow and motion masterfully.  Bring on That Beat
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
By: Rachel Isadora  
Penguin Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons, $14.99 (Hard Cover)   

With dramatic oil paintings in black, white and grey, artist Rachel Isadora evokes Harlem during the 1930s when jazz was everywhere-- played in clubs, movie theaters and impromptu rooftop concerts. To give young listeners some sense of the music's rhythm and power, the artist injects splashes of brightly colored, computer-generated designs. Though we can't hear the music, we can almost see it. What Charlie Heard
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
By: Mordicai Gerstein  
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17.00 (Hard Cover)   

Adults are not too old-- and four is not too young-- for author-illustrator Mordicai Gerstein's exuberant and profoundly moving picture book tribute to groundbreaking composer Charles Ives. Gerstein's illustrations are alive with words for the natural and human-made sounds that made up "Charlie's" aural tapestry from his babyhood in the late 19th century to his adulthood in the 20th, from drums, bells, birds and fire trucks to the quiet tick-tick of a clock and the purr of a cat. The Musicians of Bremen
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Jane Yolen   Illustrator: John Segal  
Simon & Schuster/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,

Though it has been endlessly done and redone, the is something new about this version of the Grimms' tale. Jabe Yolen's easy, brisk prose brings alive the story of the four unfortunate animals consigned to death by their masters: the music they make together is hideous, so awful it saves them. John Segal's spare, small watercolors strike amusingly discordant and hilarious notes. He leaves ample white borders around the pictures and open space within them to invite reader's imagination to play its own music with this tone-deaf band.  M Is For Music
Ages: 5 - 8 yrs.
Author: Kathleen Krull   Illustrator: Stacy Innerst  
Harcourt Trade Publishers/Harcourt Children's Books, $16.00 (Hard Cover)   

Music and the alphabet have always gone together. Don't kids learn their letters by singing the ABCs? But you've never seen--or heard--a musical alphabet like this one. Beloved tunes. Unusual instruments. Legendary virtuosos. From anthems to zydeco, the language of music and the music of language harmonize in one superb symphony. It's a funky fusion for songsters of all ages! Book Description