A Cup of Starshine Jill Bennett illust Graham Percy Walker Books
ages: ?
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Is this just another insipid poetry book for children? Take a second look. There is a lot more there than first meets the eye.
For a start, this is an anthology that takes itself quite seriously. It contains two indexes; a first line index and an index of poets. The poets included range from the familiar, Grace Nichols, Margaret Wise Brown, to the more obscure, Ilo Orleans, Marchette Chute and Romesh Gunesekera. Keep looking.
Although the illustrations, in a soft crayon or coloured pencil, have scampering mice and boys in school uniform, there is more. Dragons wear hats and crickets carry parasols. The moon wears a kerchief and toast, a moustache.
Not every poem rhymes. Most are short enough to memorise. A few of the poems by the ever present, Anon, might be familiar, but on the whole this will seem like a fresh crop of verse.
Bloomsbury Book of Lullabies; Belinda Hollyer and Robin Bell Corfield; Bloomsbury
Similarly diverse poets, heavy on Eleanor Farjeon. Water-colour that gains depth with each reading.
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From a Distance by Julie Gold illustrated by Jane Ray Orchard Books
ages: ?
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If one were to take an early Beatles' song, slap some pictures around the text and publish it as a children's book, the result would be a disaster. The deficiencies in the text would be glaring and the subject matter would bound to be inappropriate. The same lyrics that make a moving song, can fall flat on the page.
From a Distance contains the lyrics to a well-known song. It has been sung world wide by the American folksinger Nanci Griffith. It has been recorded by Bette Midler, Cliff Richards and the Byrds, as the book jacket will tell you.
Somehow, when one reads the lyrics in the form of a poem in a picture book, they lose their emotional quality. The strong words needed to make a memorable song, seem ungainly in a poem. They seem a bit trite and the meter is not very good.
One cannot help feeling guilty about such criticism. After all, the lyrics are about peace and love and humanity. Jane Ray's drawings, as always, are remarkable. They start out with a globe and draw one closer and closer into a city. The inhabitants, in all their various pursuits and circumstances are fascinating.
Perhaps this is a picture book that adults can buy for themselves, without pretending that they are buying it for children. For an adult who knows and loves this song, it will be a winner. For children who are unfamiliar with the song, let them off the hook.
Bling Blang Woody Guthrie illust Vladimir Radunsky Walker Books
ages: 2-6
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"Bling, blang, hammer with my hammer, zing-o zang-o, cutting with my saw." Radunsky must have been seduced by this chorus. The rest of the song is low key in comparison. Bling, blang are brilliant words to say aloud. Zing-o, zang-o feel wonderful on the tongue. Knowing that the legendary Woody Guthrie, god of American folk music wrote them sometime in the mid-Twentieth Century, makes them sound even better. "Who is Woody Guthrie?" some ignorant person might ask. "Buy this book and begin the journey," is the answer. For once one reads this addictive book, one will pull off the jacket. Inside the jacket is the sheet music to this basic song about building a house. You'll find someone to sing the song to you and you'll like it but want to hear the original. You'll go to Amazon and find there are not two or three Guthrie CD's, but dozens of them. You might even want to hear one by his son, Arlo. You will listen to one and realise that songs you know such as "There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly" or "I had a Rooster" are known to you because of this man. Back to the book.
Radunsky's drawings star two children, a cat and dog. They are playful, collage at times and a bit of mixed media. But more interesting than those illustrations are the one's adorning the last time the chorus is repeated. They are pictures of houses by children; Emma and Colin and Anna and Nathaniel and Holly and Sasha and Alexandra. They are priceless, in a way that only children's drawings can be. Other children are fascinated by their peers' work.
Some songs work and others fail miserably. The only fault with this song is that it only has four verses. Once one gets started with the original tune or even a made up one, you probably won't want to stop.
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