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, Bill Grogan's Goat, 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 or Louise Voce's version of this song. 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, Brian Pinkney's version of the same song, 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 the quilt-patterned endpapers and the paint-on-boards method of early limner painters. More recent picture book versions of classic American songs include Pete Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn! and Steve Goodman's The Train They Call the City of New Orleans.
       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 twenty 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.
Goodman, Steve. The Train They Call the City of New Orleans.
Illustrated by Michael McCurdy. Putnam, 2003.
Hoberman, Mary Ann. Bill Grogan's Goat. Illustrated by Nadine Bernard
Westcott. Little Brown, 2002.
Langstaff, John. Over in the Meadow. Illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky.
Harcourt Brace, 1957.
Pinkney, Brian. Hush, Little Baby. Greenwillow, 2005.
Sanders, Scott R. Hear the Wind Blow: American Folk Songs Retold.
Illustrated by Ponder Goembel. Bradbury, 1985.
Seeger, Pete. Turn! Turn! Turn! Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin.
Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Spier, Peter. The Erie Canal. Doubleday, 1970.
———. The Star-Spangled Banner. Doubleday, 1973.
Voce, Louise. Over in the Meadow. Candlewick, 1999.
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 rhythmical 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 twelve 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." Children are also immediately drawn to the opportunity to act like the animals in Eric Carle's From Head to Toe.
       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 rhythmical interpretations of a longer story. May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Lllama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. and The Magic Hat and Where is the Grren Sheep? by Mem Fox are examples of stories that lend themselves to rhythmical interpretations.

de Regniers, Beatrice Schenk. May I Bring a Friend? Illustrated by Beni Montresor. Atheneum, 1964.
Dewdney, Anna. Llama Llama Red Pajama. Viking, 2005.
Carle, Eric. From Head to Toe. Harper Collins, 1993.
Ferris, Helen, comp. Favorite Poems Old and New. Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Doubleday, 1957.
Fox, Mem. Where is the Green Sheep? Illustrated by Julie Horacek. Harcourt, 2004.
Fox, Mem. The Magic Hat. Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. Harcourt, 2002.
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. A sample comparison chart framework is provided. 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.
       You will find a wide range of alphabet books at your local and school libraries. The range and assortment of alphabet books is almost mind-boggling. Below you will find a list of recent titles with an alphabetic format:

Compestine, Yig Chang. D is for Dragon Dance. Illustrated by Douglas B. Jones. Dutton, 2005.
Dugan, Joanne. ABC, NYC: A Book about Seeing New York. Abrams, 2005.
Giblet, Pier. Little Bird's ABC. Front Street, 2005.
Grodin, Elissa. D is for Democracy; A citizen's Alphabet. Illustrated by Victor Jahsz. Sleeping Bear Press, 2005.
Jarria, Martin. ABC USA. Sterling, 2005.
Jay, Allison. ABC: A Child's First Alphabet. Dutton, 2005.
Lear, Edward. A Was Once an Apple Pie. Illustrated by Suse Macdonald. Scholastic, 2005.
Lobel, Anita. Animal Antics A-Z. Greenwillow, 2005.
Marsalis, Winton. Jazz ABC: A Collection of Jazz Portraits from A to Z. Illustrated by Paul Rogers. Candlewick, 2005.
Pallotta, Jerry. The Beetle Alphabet Book. Charlesbridge, 2004.

Chapter 4 Recording Sheet (24.0K)