Picture-Book Editions of Single Songs

Among the many values of songbooks in the classroom is their use as predictable and familiar reading material. In recent years, there have been numerous fine picture-book interpretations of well-known songs, including Skip to My Lou, The Lady with the Alligator Purse, and There's a Hole in the Bucket, all illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. Music is included in each of Westcott's books. Other musically derived picture books for young children feature familiar counting songs, such as John Langstaff's Over in the Meadow. To children who already know the song, the text of these books presents easy and enjoyable reading.

Songs that follow a cumulative pattern challenge singers to remember the order in which events occur. Aliki's Hush, Little Baby and Nadine Westcott's I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly are good candidates for feltboard or box-movie storytelling aids. If children help to create these, they are less likely to get lost in the song.

Many familiar folksongs have been researched and presented in authentic historic detail by such illustrators as Peter Spier and Aliki. Spier presents The Star-Spangled Banner and The Erie Canal with historical background so that the songs almost become an informational book, too. These various editions are a good way to make American history come alive as children are introduced to many folksongs that are a part of the American folk tradition. Aliki's illustrations for Hush, Little Baby and Go Tell Aunt Rhody reflect early American art in quilt-patterned endpapers and the paint-on-boards method of early limner painters.

In addition to the classroom extensions suggested, children may enjoy making their own book versions of other traditional songs like "Home on the Range," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," or "Old Dan Tucker." Scott R. Sanders has invented details and told his own stories for 20 folksongs in Hear the Wind Blow: American Folk Songs Retold.

Aliki [Aliki Brandenberg]. Go Tell Aunt Rhody. Macmillan, 1986.
------. Hush, Little Baby. Prentice Hall, 1968.
Langstaff, John. Over in the Meadow. Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Harcourt Brace, 1957.
Sanders, Scott R. Hear the Wind Blow: American Folk Songs Retold. Illustrated by Ponder Goembel. Bradbury, 1985.
Spier, Peter. The Erie Canal. Doubleday, 1970.
------. The Star-Spangled Banner. Doubleday, 1973.
Westcott, Nadine Bernard. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Little, Brown, 1980.
------. The Lady with the Alligator Purse. Little, Brown, 1988.
------. Skip to My Lou. Little, Brown, 1990.
------. There's a Hole in the Bucket. Little, Brown, 1990.

Movement and Literature

Increasing attention has been given to children's control of their own body movements. The relationship between thought and movement has received much attention, particularly in England. Basic rhythmic movements might be introduced through Mother Goose rhymes. For example, children could walk to "Tommy Snooks and Bessie Brooks," gallop to "Ride a Cock Horse," jump to "Jack Be Nimble," and run to "Wee Willie Winkie." Nursery rhymes could also motivate dramatic action with such verses as "Hickory Dickory Dock," "Three Blind Mice," and "Jack and Jill."

A favorite poem for young children to move to is "Holding Hands" by Lenore M. Link, which describes the slow, ponderous way that elephants walk. By way of contrast, Evelyn Beyer's poem "Jump or Jiggle" details the walk of frogs, caterpillars, worms, bugs, rabbits, and horses. It provides a wonderful opportunity for children to develop diverse movements. Both poems can be found in Jack Prelutsky's Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young. In Jean Marzollo's Pretend You're a Cat, a longer poem that Jerry Pinkney illustrates as a picture book, Pinkney's watercolors portray 12 animals and, on the facing pages, children pretending to walk, wiggle, or jump like those particular animals. Children also enjoy making the hand motions and sounds for We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, as the adventurous family goes through a river, "Splash, splosh."

As children learn basic movements, they can use them in different areas of space, at different levels, and at different tempos. Swinging, bending, stretching, twisting, bouncing, and shaking are the kinds of body movements that can be made by standing tall, at a middle position, or by stooping low. For example, "A Swing Song" by William Allingham could be interpreted by swinging, pushing motions that vary in speed according to the words in the poem. Other poetry that suggests movement includes "Stop, Go" by Dorothy Baruch, "The African Dance" by Langston Hughes, and "The Potatoes' Dance" by Vachel Lindsay. All of these poems can be found in Favorite Poems Old and New by Helen Ferris.

Children who have had this kind of experience are ready to create rhythmic interpretations of a longer story. May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and Koala Lou by Mem Fox are examples of stories that lend themselves to rhythmic interpretations.

de Regniers, Beatrice Schenk. May I Bring a Friend? Illustrated by Beni Montresor. Atheneum, 1964.
Ferris, Helen, comp. Favorite Poems Old and New. Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Doubleday, 1957.
Fox, Mem. Koala Lou. Illustrated by Pamela Lofts. Harcourt Brace, 1989.
Marzollo, Jean. Pretend You're a Cat. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Dial, 1990.
Prelutsky, Jack. Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young. Illustrated by Marc Simont. Knopf, 1986.
Rosen, Michael. We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. Macmillan, 1989.
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Harper & Row, 1963.

A Survey of Alphabet Books

Children of all ages would enjoy collecting and comparing the wide variety of alphabet books available for children. Visit your local and school libraries and bookstores to gather together a wide assortment of alphabet books that use varying formats and focus on different topics. For starters, see the list of alphabet books within this chapter. After collecting the books and reading them, children can construct a comparison chart to analyze the books' features. Categories for analysis might include: topic, format, text, number of letters presented per page, illustrations, and other distinguishing features. You might also engage children in a similar activity comparing other types of concept books, such as counting books, color books, or books that present opposites.