Tag: music

Hokey Pokey by Ed Allen ill Sarah Hardy

Okey dokey, let’s do the wombat hokey pokey!

Put your right paw in, put your right paw out,

Put your right paw in and shake it all about.

Do the hokey pokey and turn around,

That’s what it’s all about!

Okey dokey, let’s do the wombat hokey pokey!

Put your right paw in, put your right paw out,

Put your right paw in and shake it all about.

Do the hokey pokey and turn around,

That’s what it’s all about!

Hokey Pokey Aussie Edition features Australian animals doing the hokey pokey in their own distinctive style. The wombat puts a paw in and out, the kookaburra a wing, the platypus a fin. Illustrations are cumulative and each opening includes the featured animals, those that preceded, and also the animal that will feature on the following opening. Text curves across the pages, with lead words in larger, different colour fonts. Hokey Pokey  is accompanied by a CD with music from Colin Buchanan, and includes an instrumental version in addition to the song.

Many children, and most of their families will be familiar with the Hokey-Pokey song and actions. This new Aussie version offers an opportunity to look at the similarities and differences of the native fauna. Readers can play the CD and read along. Pre- and early-school classrooms will be hopping and spinning as they join in the celebrations. The instrumental track on the CD also offers the chance for teachers/parents/family to improvise with their own words. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.

 

Hokey Pokey,  Ed Allen ill Sarah Hardy Scholastic 2014 ISBN: 9781742836454

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Baby Beats, by Karen Blair

Let’s play music,
make a beat.
Clap your hands
and stamp your feet.

Beautiful babies scamper through the pages of this delightful offering, making music with their hands, feet and voices as well as with musical instruments. They are surprised when they realise their cat can join in, too. They spend the day sharing their music before sleeping soundly and happily.

Baby Beats is a joyful celebration of music, friendship and babies. The toddler characters sing and play together, revelling in the music and each other’s company. The mix of ethnic appearance and gender is a really pleasing aspect of the illustrations, and the simple, rhyming text, makes this a lovely read aloud title for young children.

A companion title to Baby Animal Farm, Baby Beats is gorgeous.

 

Baby Beats, by Karen Blair
Walker Books, 2014
ISBN 9781922179074

Available from good bookstores or online.

My Band by Elizabeth Lea & Chantal Stewart

I’m off to play in the band.

See if you can guess which instrument I’m going to play …

It starts with the letter Tt

I’m playing the triangle.

I play the triangle by hitting it

with a small metal rod.

Triangles belong to the percussion family.

I’m off to play in the band.

See if you can guess which instrument I’m going to play …

It starts with the letter Tt

I’m playing the triangle.

I play the triangle by hitting it

with a small metal rod.

Triangles belong to the percussion family.

Here’s a musical instrument primer, written and illustrated for young children. Each spread has a flap and a question. The same character, a young girl, is featured asking the question throughout, as if she’s trying all the instruments on for size. As well as the first letter, there’s a small image showing part of the instrument. When the flap is opened, the instrument is revealed in full and there is an explanation of how to play it. There’s also information about which family the instrument belongs to. When the reader reaches the final flap opening, the band is revealed: a collection of young children. There is a blank space for a photo of the reader, so they can be the leader of the band. Final pages feature projects and history based on some of the featured instruments. This is a sturdy paperback, built to withstand multiple readings. Youngest children will enjoy the open-the-flap, while budding musicians will enjoy learning more about music. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers.

My Band

My Band, Elizabeth Lea ill Chantal Stewart National Library Australia Publishing 2013 ISBN: 9780642277701

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

Bom! Went the Bear, by Nicki Greenberg

Bear loves to play his big bass drum. He marches along happy to be making music – and noise. Other animals soon join in, loving the music

BOM! went the bear on the big bass drum
Ting-ting-a-ting-ting-a Strum strum strum.
Giraffes hit the high notes, turtles sing low
Clarinet quick-quick, saxophone slow.

Bear loves to play his big bass drum. He marches along happy to be making music – and noise. Other animals soon join in, loving the music. But Bear isn’t so sure that there are room for all these  other animal musicians in his band, especially when they start telling him to look out!

BOM! Went the Bear is a wonderful celebration of music, and noise, and silliness, with the pages full of bright, humorous animals singing and dancing and having fun. The text is perfect for reading aloud and simple enough for youngsters to join in. With repeated readings they will quickly learn the whole story. Illustrations are bright mixed media,with  collage touches , particularly for the instruments, adding an element for children to explore, and even replicate with their own art and craft projects.

BOM! Went the Bear is perfect for the very young and for the early childhood classroom.

BOM! Went the Bear

BOM! Went the Bear, by Nicki Greenberg
Allen & Unwin, 2011
ISBN 9781742376714

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online through Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

Offbeat, by Marlane Ainsworth

‘So,’ I said, tying to get this footy business into my head once and for all, ‘Buttface roams all over the field, you kick all the goals. What does the rest of the team do?’
‘All sorts of things. Tackle, block, scream, smother, chase, hammer.’
I shuddered. ‘Sounds like Holst’s music about the planet Mars, the Bringer of War. I’ll play it for you next time you come.’

Tommo are Smelly are an unlikely pair to be best friends. Tommo loves classical music and plays the trumpet in the school band. Smelly (her real name is Simone Melling) loves football, and plays for the school team. One is neat and fastidious, the other is messy and rough. But they have been friends for a long time, and nothing can change that. Or can it?

The School Band has an opportunity to compete in a band competition in the city. The football team is invited to participate in a carnival. The problem is, the principal says the school only has enough funds for one trip. Which one will be chosen? With that drama out of the way, Smelly and Tommo, and their respective groups, have other challenges to overcome, including a mix ups ending the team busses to the wrong events.

Offbeat is a fun children’s novel which takes a humorous look at the cultural clash between sport and the arts, and at how friendships can survive often-competing interests. The use of a male and a female as the two central characters means the books is likely to appeal to both boy and girl readers, and kids will like that the girl is the footy player and the boy the neat-freak musician.

Suitable for readers aged 10-12.

Offbeat, by Marlane Ainsworth
Fremantle Arts Centre press, 2006

Fergal Onions, by John Harrison

Through the window he heard a faint, sweet sound. Fergal stopped eating and listened. He turned down the volume on the kitchen TV.

Fergal Onions loves television so much that he has a set in every room of his house. He spends all his time watching whatever is on. Then, one morning, as he sits watching television and eating his breakfast, the sounds of a violin float in through his window. It is a tune that is strangely familiar, and, gradually, Fergal’s love of music is reawakened. Suddenly, television isn’t so important.

Fergal Onions is a whimsical tale with gentle humour and an important message. Fergal is isolated by his attachment to the television but, through music, enjoys new friendships and even goes outdoors. Children will love the story and adore the images of Fergal who is delightfully bald and huge-nosed.

Fergal Onions was awarded a CBCA Notable Book in the 2005 CBCA awards.

Fergal Onions, written & illustrated by John Harrison
UQP 2004, this edition 2005