Books of the Day: Songs Turned into Books

Over in the Meadow
Illustrator:  Ezra Jack Keats
Puffin Books (1971)

Island in the Sun
Authors:  Harry Belafonte and Lord Burgess
Illustrator:  Alex Ayliffe
Dial Books for Young Readers (1999)

It's funny that I should write this blog post after embarrassing myself at last nights Karaoke (I sang Barry Manilow's Copacabana and it was off the charts horrible!).  Yep, for some reason, there are a bunch of women at Mirette's preschool that LOVE to sing and love to organize Karaoke nights..  What's more, they happen to be dang good singers.   As for me, I am as tone deaf as they come.   But still I LOVE singing (though usually not in public).

Some of my favorite children's books to share with Mirette are ones that turn songs into beautifully illustrated books.  We can download the songs on I-tunes and belt them out while we are turning the pages.   What a delight!

Over in the Meadow has stunning illustrations.  My favorite page, by far, is the lizard that tells her children to BASK.   "Bask!" said the mother. "We bask," said the eight.  So they basked in the sun by the old mossy gate."   I just love the fact that the mother commands her children to bask.   I wish someone would command me to bask!  Please!

The author of the song is disputed.

  Here's a link to Ezra Keat's website:  http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/.   What he is most known for is writing a book where a black child is the hero.   Surprisingly, he was not an African-American man, but rather an impoverished Polish Jew.   After World War Two he changed his name from Katz to Keats to avoid anti-Semitism.  He was a gifted artist from the start.   His website is run by the Ezra Jack Keats foundation and they do a ton of amazing things to promote literacy including a book-making contest for kids, an award for a new author and illustrator of the year, mini-grants and many other great things.  

Here are some other interesting tid-bits.  He never married or had children; Prospect Park in Brooklyn has an Imagination Playground featuring his characters;

 An ice-skating rink is named after him in Japan; And he created the sets for a musical called Captain Louie (based on his book The Trip).  

Island in the Sun is a song written by Harry Belafonte and Lord Burgess (the one that wrote Jamaica Farewell) celebrating life in Jamaica.   I love the island feel of the song and the bright pictures by Alex Aliffe.  It's happy and reminds me of warm island energy (I want to go BASK there).   The pictures also have a lot of little things around the borders that are fun for Mirette to identify:  mango, pineapples, birds, palm trees.  Ahhhhh.   Mostly, I can really feel their love of a place shining through.  

Link to Harry's biography:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte

Alex Ayleffe lives in Hertfordshire, England and has illustrated a ton of books.  Here's some pictures of her body of work:  She must be a rather private person because there's not much information on her life out there.  

 By the way, I read somewhere or another that you are "supposed" to sing to your children even if your voice sucks.  So happy singing!