Raffi

Raffi is the most influential children's entertainer of all time.  He has created top notch music for kids and their parents since the beginning of his career as a musician for children.  It was his commitment to honoring his young fans that changed the way we came to view music made for children.  Through his own record label, Troubadour, Raffi recorded quality music that resonated with parents.  Four decades later, Raffi continues to inspire millions of families worldwide through his music.  His lyrics spread messages of love and caring with infectious melodies.  From Raffi's songs grew a purpose much larger than performing music for children.  Raffi has worked to create a philosophy of living called Child Honouring.  This is a children first approach to healing communities and restoring ecosystems.  It views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building a humane and sustainable world.  

Raffi's music has touched my life both as a parent and a teacher. When Emmy was a baby I would sing Baby Beluga to her during feedings and diapering.  As she grew, she joined in and together we belted out our rendition of this very popular song.  Whenever a good laugh was in order, I would start singing Shake Your Sillies Out and before you knew it the two of us would be dancing all over the house.  I used both of these songs in the classroom.  Baby Beluga was always a favorite song when we learned about ocean life and whenever we needed to get up and move, Shake Your Sillies Out was our go to song.  No matter the age, children (and adults) always LOVE Raffi.  

Here is Raffi performing Baby Beluga.

A wonderful way to connect music to reading is by sharing books based on familiar songs, such as the Raffi Songs to Read series.  Of course we owned the board book Baby Beluga and Emmy always enjoyed turning the pages in the book as we sang the words together. As she became more aware of frequently used words and letters and their sounds, she began to actually read this book with great enthusiasm.  

When Emmy was around two years old, she was obsessed with trains.  We sang many songs about trains including Little Red Caboose.  I created a book for her using a three ring binder.  I typed the words to her favorite train songs, added some clip art, printed them and slid them into plastic sleeves and then added them to the binder.  Voila - we had a homemade book.  We also took this idea and used it for gift giving.  We would find out the child's favorite song and either buy the corresponding book with the CD and a trinket to go with it (like a stuffed beluga whale to go with Baby Beluga) or we would create our own.  Several years ago we put together a tractor gift for a boy in Emmy's class.  We included the book Otis by Loren Long (a wonderful book of friendship), a toy tractor and a plastic cow.  We happened to have the song Driving My Tractor so we made a CD of the song and typed out the lyrics into a little book.  All of this was placed into a drawstring bag.  This gift was a huge hit.  

  

Back to Raffi...It's been 12 years since Raffi recorded an album for children!  No need to wait any longer as he just released a brand new album Love Bug and it is awesome!  

Here is a video of the single Love Bug.

You can download this song for free from his website by signing up for his newsletter.  Check it out HERE.

I am going to end this post by using Raffi's words...

"Beauty. Tranquility. The Arts. In these may your life be rich."

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Too Many Frogs

Rabbit lived by himself in 

the hollow of an old tree.

He cooked for himself.

He tidied up after himself.

And at the end of each and every day, 

he read himself a story.

It was a simple way of life - 

No fuss, no clutter.

And Rabbit liked it.

Or did he?   Sandy Asher and Keith Graves have paired up to create the book Too Many Frogs, a heartwarming tale of two unlikely friends, a loner rabbit and a pesky frog, that celebrates the joy of reading aloud.

This book was given to Emmy on her birthday several years ago and is one of the most read picture books in our home.  Too Many Frogs begs to be read aloud with funny voices for the characters and funny sounds for the actions.  From Froggie's knock-knockety-knocking on the door followed by his croak "It's Froggie!" to his goodbye, "Thanks for your kindness. Toodle-oo!" readers will love the interaction between the two characters.

Emmy laughs and laughs as Froggie brings noise and clutter to Rabbit's quiet and tidy world.  She especially enjoys when Froggie makes the two of them a snack.

Rabbit opened the door, "I was about to read myself a story."  

"I know!" Froggie cried, and hopped right inside.  

"Love to listen!  But first, let's fix ourselves a snack - or three!  

Don't mind, do you?"  "I suppose not," Rabbit said.  

So Froggie hopped - and popped - and whipped - and flipped - and mixed - 

and fixed a snack.  Or three.  Too much fuss! Rabbit thought.  

Graves' illustrations are full of color and seem to pop right off the page.  Whoever heard of a bright blue bunny, Graves did and it's PERFECT.  There are many fun details to find on the page spreads. Emmy's favorites...the ladybug lamp, the umbrella with a crooked handle and the rug that looks like grass.  But most especially, Emmy likes the facial expressions on Rabbit.

We both highly recommend this book!  Such fun to read and talk about.  Emmy often interrupts me when I am reading so I will remind her of Froggie and Rabbit.  She just giggles and offers to go get us a snack or three!  We have been on the lookout for these two follow up books that are sure to entertain us as well.  

Derrick Brown

Derrick Brown + Poetry = Performer Extraordinaire!

Recently, Emmy and I had the wonderful opportunity to read and review two new books by
an amazing independent publishing company named Write Fuzzy. I just love their tagline, "The books we wish we had when we were kids." Write Fuzzy is part of Writebloody Publishing - an independent literary press (think mission-driven not market-driven) whose mission is to bring the spoken word to the masses.

Derrick Brown, a writer of poetry and performer of his original works, is also the man behind this mission. "Brown was seeing young, smart, page savvy poets, prose writers and poetry performers sell out shows, with only self-published, junky looking books available for sale." By bringing works by these important and often neglected authors/performers to the widest possible audience, Brown and his hard working staff of artists, authors, poets and performers hope that going to a reading will be as common as going to the movies or to see a band. In Brown's own words, "...he is dedicated to bringing American poetry into rock and roll status." I think Writebloody is on the right track and am very excited to watch as this movement soars across the United States and continues throughout the world.

Derrick Brown has recently ventured into writing books for children, which Emmy and I discovered when Write Fuzzy sent two books in a big envelope addressed to her! Emmy was over the moon when she received the package. Getting mail is one of her favorite things. I explained to Emmy that we were to read the books and give our opinions of them on our blog. Emmy took this job very seriously. She immediately sat down and looked through both books carefully. She then asked me to read them aloud. I usually like to read new books first before reading them to Emmy, but with her excitement building who could wait!

The first book we read was Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny written by Derrick Brown and illustrated by Jenny Lewis. Emmy LOVES to dance so she LOVED this book. She thought Valentine looked so cute in her red polka dot shoes and matching bow in her prickly hair. She felt empathy for Valentine as she struggled to find a friend that would dance with her. Many of the other animals that Valentine meets thinks she is strange and are not always nice to her. "Valentine is just plain silly. Valentine is kooky. Valentine is willy-nilly when she shakes her booty!"

However, with her mom's loving support, "Strange is cool, Valentine, I hope you never change?" Valentine sets off to find to find someone who would dance with her and share their heart with her. Who she finds makes Emmy laugh and laugh - it's someone else with prickles and pokers just like her - a blowfish! "I knew that if I waited, I would find a special friend to laugh between the butter flowers and dance along the wind."

Take a look at...The Art of Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny - Artist: Jenny Lewis


The second book we read was I Looooove You, Whale! written by Derrick Brown with illustrations by Amanda Atkins. This one definitely needed to be read first to understand the story and be able to read it aloud with the appropriate voice. Emmy and I both love Beluga Whales, which is the type of whale that the boy, Steven, befriends in this story. When we finished reading, we began singing Baby Beluga, a song by Raffi, that we have sung together since Emmy was a baby. Emmy thought it was amazing how Steven became friends with a whale and would love for that to happen to her one day. In fact she said, "Wouldn't it be so cool to swim with a whale in the deep blue sea."

I liked how the book addressed the important issue of keeping the ocean and beaches clean. Emmy and I often talk about how it is our job to take care of our planet, the creatures and plants that live here, and to also take care of each other. Whenever we are at the beach, Emmy notices and picks up any trash that she sees. It is her mission (and mine, too) to keep our beaches clean!

Thanks to Derrick Brown's inspiration, Emmy has put together her own short spoken word performance titled "The Woods."


My dad, Emmy's Papa, was self-employed and owned his own painting and wallpaper hanging business (as in exteriors and interiors of houses) for many, many years. From him I learned how important it was to support local, independent businesses and I express this to Emmy whenever we visit our local shops and farms. Emmy and I hope you feel the same way and will support independent authors, artists and presses. Be sure to check out Write Fuzzy, Writebloody Publishing and The Poetry of Derrick Brown.

Thank You Bear

Both Emmy and I are excited to share the book, Thank You Bear, with you! It is written and illustrated by Greg Foley. We feel a kinship with Mr. Foley because he grew up in Austin, Texas.

Thank You Bear is the gentle story of a bear who finds a treasure that he thinks will be perfect for his friend Mouse. It goes along with the old saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure." as Bear finds great value in the object, but begins to feel differently as he shows it to some of his other animal friends.

"On his way to find Mouse,
he showed it to the monkey.
Monkey said, "That's not so great."
He showed it to the owl.
Owl said, "I've seen those before."

Foley's illustrations are so soft and serene. They are a pleasure to look at. Emmy noticed right away, through Bear's face and posture, that he was becoming discouraged by his friend's words. We think all children can relate to Bear as he sits wondering if his treasure is so great after all. Our lives can be full of discouraging words, but as often happens, someone comes along to give us the encouragement that we need as Mouse did for Bear.

"Then Mouse crawled inside the empty box and said,
"It's the greatest thing ever!"

Foley makes the reader wonder about the contents of the box, but it is on this page that it is discovered that the treasure is the box itself and is the perfect snugly place for Mouse.

After reading this book many times, Emmy found her little mouse, her special bear and a tissue box and started to act out the story. I made copies of the other animals in the story to add to her retelling. Here are the props:And here is Emmy acting out the story Thank You Bear:



Foley has written two more books about Bear that Emmy and I are excited to read. Both sound perfect for Springtime!

Don't Worry Bear

Good Luck Bear