Two-fer posts all summer long, aren't you lucky!
Last week started off with a literal bang, with a great SRP performance by a local magician and musician who did a delightful and very well choreographed performance using a lot of classic music cues. Very clever and thoughtful and the music was integrated into every part of the performance except perhaps the magic rabbit that turned into a real rabbit for the kids to pet, but I'm going to overlook that because soft cuddly rabbit. But enough about him, this blog is about the books.
For the storytime earlier in the day, I focused on general music books to set the mood: later programs have more specific themes (dance, jazz, biographies) so I wanted to keep any of those back to make a connection between those programs.
I ended up with an old favorite, a new classic, and a fun little cutie.
New Classic:
88 Instruments
Chris Barton
ISBN: maybe later
So this kid goes into a music shop and there are 88 instruments for him to choose from; which one does he want to take lessons with? We wander past the strings, triangles, electric guitar, are dreadfully tempted by the drum set, but then he discovers the piano, which (amazing coincidence not at all contrived by the writer) has 88 keys ALSO! And once he masters them all, he's going to play beautiful music, and then perhaps pick another new instrument to learn after all.
New Cutie:
Rock and Roll Soul
Author: hmmmm
ISBN: reply hazy
I don't normally like "scribbly" art, but I do want to give all different art styles and approaches a fighting chance, and the bubbly happy beat of this book was too much to pass up. I feel like there was a bit of a story (girl is going to perform in her school's talent show) but there really isn't any urgency or flow to that, just a set of spreads of her bopping and rocking out with her bad self and her amazing self esteem. Really fun.
Old Favorite:
My Family Plays Music
Author: I should know this but it's summer reading and a tuesday so I can barely remember I need to buy cat food tonight.
ISBN: not a chance
This is my "platonic ideal" book when I want to show people what diversity in picture books looks like. All these people are family, and they are all different, and all different-looking, and they all love each other and NOTHING in the story references their color or their nationality AT ALL. It's beautiful and I love it and it's nearly perfect. The narrator is a young girl, and she plays along with a VERY large musical family in lots of venues, picking just the right percussion instrument to fit in with a dizzying array of differing musical styles and traditions. Clean, clear, crisp, straightforward, no explanations or apologies. Just a family who loves music.
Showing posts with label My Family Plays Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Family Plays Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Black History Month: Families
One day off, but I'm squeezing it in there anyway, because I had good beautiful books to showcase.
My Family Plays Music
Judy Cox, illustrated by Elbrite Brown
ISBN: 0823415910
A lovely variety of brown and black faces and bodies playing beautiful music in varied venues.
The ONLY downside to this book is that there are a LOT of family members to get through. The music styles and venues and instruments are interesting and varied, from great-grandmother on the church pipe organ to niece Sadie playing the pots and pans in the kitchen, and our narrator is a gifted percussionist, playing scads of different instruments to accompany each different relative. It's rhythmic, cadenced, lovely descriptive language (all the instruments and music styles are named), and each family member has their own distinct style and appearance. It's perfect - other than getting a smidge tired of a large family: father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, great grandma, cousin, and niece.
Uptown
Bryan Collier
ISBN: 0805057218
Rich, multi-layered collages of highly-textured photographs show off Harlem through a boy's eyes.
Our narrator tells us about various slices of life and environment Uptown - the brownstones, the barbershops, the Apollo Theatre, playing at Rutgers in summer, and listening to the Boy's Choir sing in the evenings, sharing his joy and pride in his homeplace of Uptown Harlem. I love it specifically for my rural/suburban southern kids because it shows off a joyful and positive impression of city life.
Max and the Tag-Along Moon
Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9780399233425
Truly lovely grainy-textured sepia-washed spreads of color and shadow.
It's early evening, and the moon rises as Max says goodbye to his beloved Granpa, who reassures the sad boy that the moon will "always shine for you" through the night. During the long drive, beautifully illustrated and lyrically narrated, Max keeps a delighted eye on the tag-along moon that follows him around curves, through forests, and waits for him at the end of tunnels. By the end of the trip, clouds have rolled in, and the stars - and moon - vanish from sight. Max feels the loss of the moon keenly, and rolls it up with how he feels missing his Granpa, and is sad and lonely as he arrives home and prepares for bed. But just before he falls asleep, the clouds roll back, and that loyal moon shines bright in his window, just like Granpa said it would. Beautiful, sweet, and expressionistic.
My Family Plays Music
Judy Cox, illustrated by Elbrite Brown
ISBN: 0823415910
A lovely variety of brown and black faces and bodies playing beautiful music in varied venues.
The ONLY downside to this book is that there are a LOT of family members to get through. The music styles and venues and instruments are interesting and varied, from great-grandmother on the church pipe organ to niece Sadie playing the pots and pans in the kitchen, and our narrator is a gifted percussionist, playing scads of different instruments to accompany each different relative. It's rhythmic, cadenced, lovely descriptive language (all the instruments and music styles are named), and each family member has their own distinct style and appearance. It's perfect - other than getting a smidge tired of a large family: father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, great grandma, cousin, and niece.
Uptown
Bryan Collier
ISBN: 0805057218
Rich, multi-layered collages of highly-textured photographs show off Harlem through a boy's eyes.
Our narrator tells us about various slices of life and environment Uptown - the brownstones, the barbershops, the Apollo Theatre, playing at Rutgers in summer, and listening to the Boy's Choir sing in the evenings, sharing his joy and pride in his homeplace of Uptown Harlem. I love it specifically for my rural/suburban southern kids because it shows off a joyful and positive impression of city life.
Max and the Tag-Along Moon
Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9780399233425
Truly lovely grainy-textured sepia-washed spreads of color and shadow.
It's early evening, and the moon rises as Max says goodbye to his beloved Granpa, who reassures the sad boy that the moon will "always shine for you" through the night. During the long drive, beautifully illustrated and lyrically narrated, Max keeps a delighted eye on the tag-along moon that follows him around curves, through forests, and waits for him at the end of tunnels. By the end of the trip, clouds have rolled in, and the stars - and moon - vanish from sight. Max feels the loss of the moon keenly, and rolls it up with how he feels missing his Granpa, and is sad and lonely as he arrives home and prepares for bed. But just before he falls asleep, the clouds roll back, and that loyal moon shines bright in his window, just like Granpa said it would. Beautiful, sweet, and expressionistic.
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