music – Page 3 – Mom Read It

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Teen, Tween Reads

Blog Tour and Giveaway: The Turnaway Girls, by Hayley Chewins

Posted on October 11, 2018October 11, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Raised in a shelter cloister with other young women, Delphernia Undersea is a 12-year-old Turnaway Girl: girls raised to be silent, invisible; to weave male Masters’ music into gold they call “shimmmer”. Delphina is well aware of her place in society – Mother Nine beats it into her regularly enough – but still has a rebellious streak in her. While she can’t make shimmer, she can sing; a forbidden action in this world. Girls are told that the sea waits to swallow girls with musical throats, but Delphernia must sing, so she does so in secret until the day a young Master named Bly comes to claim her. Once out of the cloister, Delphernia’s world opens up, befriending a trans girl named Linna, who calls herself a Master and wears a dress covered in bells. Delphernia spends time with Bly, discovering more about him and his sister, the Childer-Queen, and in so doing, discovers more about herself and the society she moves through. It’s time for rebellion, and Delphernia holds the key.

Wow. This book is high literary fantasy that has the gift of empowering readers. Delphernia is a strong, intelligent heroine who motivates those around her. This is a male-driven society that doesn’t want music, free thought, or questions. They twist the truth to suit their means, but this next generation of children is about to bring it all down. Hayley Chewins’ weaves gold – shimmer – with words that nearly brought me to tears as I read. I was Facebooking and texting passages from this book to my friends, family, and coworkers over the last two days, because I could not keep these words inside me.

This is how you talk to middle graders. This is how you write middle grade fantasy that makes a statement, always respecting your readers. This is fantasy that holds our society up to a mirror and lets readers see for themselves how change is theirs to make. Diverse and gender fluid characters, discussions about gender roles and corrupt leaders, and a tale of self-discovery, magic, and music put this firmly on my must-read, must-have list, and my Newbery and Hugo watch lists.

The Turnaway Girls has a starred review from Kirkus. Author Hayley Chewins has a playlist for the book available on her blog.

Want your own copy of The Turnaway Girls? Enter this Rafflecopter giveaway!

Blog Tour Roll Call! Visit these book bloggers for their The Turnaway Girl thoughts.

October 8 – Purple Readers

October 9 – YA Books Central

October 10 – Cheyenne Reads

October 11 – Mom Read It

October 12 – Wizard Library

The Turnaway Girls, by Hayley Chewins, (Sept. 2018, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9780763697921
Ages 10+

picture books, Preschool Reads

Liven up storytime with Play This Book and Pet This Book!

Posted on August 15, 2018August 14, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I love using interactive books in my storytimes. They get the kids involved, engage their minds and their bodies, and they’re just a load of fun. I’ve just received two new interactive books from Bloomsbury that will be big fun for pre-k and Kindergarten readers, and that can easily be applied to lessons incorporating music time or a sensory storytime. Let’s read on.

Play This Book!, by Jessica Young/Illustrated by Daniel Wiseman,
(May 2018, Bloomsbury USA), $15.99, ISBN: 9781681195063
Ages 4-7

A group of friends is getting ready to put on a show, but they need some extra hands to play in their band! This rhyming story invites kids to try out their musical skills on each spread: strum a guitar, bang on a drum, tickle the ivories on a piano, or shake some maracas! Every instrument has its own sound in bold, expressive fonts. Pass the book around and let your readers take a turn on the instruments in the book, or lead a band of your own with toy instruments! A diverse group of children march across the stage playing their song, and invite readers to make their own music: take the book up on that offer, and lead your little band on a march around the room. It’s absolute fun to read, and the art is big and eye-catching. Endpapers get into the fun, with a stage bearing a “Welcome” banner in front, and a custodian cleaning up afterward.

Pet This Book!, by Jessica Young/Illustrated by Daniel Wiseman,
(May 2018, Bloomsbury USA), $15.99, ISBN: 9781681195070
Ages 4-7

Bust out the stuffed animals and get cuddly for this fun book about the senses. A child of color (reminiscent of Doc McStuffins) invites readers right into her world, where she’s getting ready to take care of pets. Readers can pet a cat, scrub a pup in a tub, and feed a lizard a tasty treat. Each spread features a bright, boldly illustrated animal and a bold animal sounds. As with Play This Book, there’s time for a break, where kids can count to three and continue. There are no textures here for the kids to touch, but the book provides a perfect opportunity to ask kids what they think a cat, bird, or a lizard feels like. Have some textured toys available for kids to touch and explore! The rhyming text moves the book along at a fun pace, and a there’s good advice about the responsibility of caring for a pet built into the rhyme. A diverse group of kids line up with their animals to sound off. Endpapers open with a daytime scene on a farm, and close with the same group of animal friends sleeping, moon and stars in the sky.

Each book has digital art created with “Photoshop, custom brushes, and a lot of bright colors”, and kids will thoroughly enjoy it. Author Jessica Young has free, downloadable resources, including printable activity sheets for both Play This Book and Pet This Book, at her website, so make sure to visit.

These are big fun for storytimes bookshelves. Check them out.

Non-Fiction, picture books

Activists, Musicians: Biographies

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

If you’re looking for some biographies on musicians who worked to change the world, here’s a starter list.

Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, by Michael Mahin/Illustrated by Evan Turk, (Sept. 2017, Athenum), $17.99, ISNB: 978-1481443494 It’s a good thing Muddy Waters wasn’t good at doing what he was told. Everyone from his grandma to record producers said no one wanted to hear the blues, but Muddy just kept playing, from family picnics to smoky juke joints, until he finally got to Chicago, and recorded his music.

Mahalia Jackson: Walking With Kings and Queens, by Nina Nolan/Illustrated by John Holyfield, (2015, Amistad/HarperCollins),$17.99, ISBN: 978-0-06-087944-0 Mahalia Jackson had a voice that could make you stop whatever you were doing in listen. Walking with Kings and Queens tells her story, from her New Orleans childhood to her performance at the March on Washington.

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop, by Laban Carrick Hill/Illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, (Aug. 2013, Roaring Brook Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781596435407 In 1973, music changed forever when Clive Campbell – you may know him as DJ Kook Herc – created a new way of playing music to make the beats last longer, letting you dance longer. It caught on. Kids started breakdancing rather than fighting; a culture arose that influences music, style, and language to this day.

Nina: Jazz Legend and Civil-Rights Activist Nina Simone, by Alice Brière-Haquet/Illustrated by Bruno Liance, (Dec. 2017, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580898270 Singer and activist Nina Simone grew up listening to music made by “important men in powdered wigs from past centuries” and faced down systemic racism to shine as a classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop vocalist and activist.

Listen – How Pete Seeger Got America Singing, by Leda Schubert/Illustrated by Raúl Colón, (June 2017, Roaring Brook Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781626722507 Folk artist Pete Seeger led by example, be it through song or through activism. He said that participation would save the human race, and encouraged it through actions: he supported unions, protested war, and marched for civil rights, and he was vocal about environmentalism.

When Paul Met Artie: The Story of Simon & Garfunkel, by G. Neri/Illustrated by David Litchfield,
(March 2018, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763681746 The story of music duo Simon & Garfunkel, told in verse, takes the artists from their childhood in Queens, New York, through their mutual love of music and discovery of ’60s social change, and through their early musical career.

Middle Grade, Non-fiction, picture books, Tween Reads

Musicians, poets, activists: When Paul Met Artie

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Simon and Garfunkel are two of the most famous names in music history. The names of their songs are less titles now, more legends: The Sound of Silence; Bridge Over Troubled Water; The Boxer… think of one, and you immediately find yourself closing your eyes and listening to the haunting melodies, the perfect union of the two singers’ voices.

When Paul Met Artie: The Story of Simon & Garfunkel, by G. Neri/Illustrated by David Litchfield,
(March 2018, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763681746
Recommended for readers 8-12

How else could the story of Simon & Garfunkel be told, but in verse? G. Neri, whose books Chess Rumble, Tru & Nelle, and Ghetto Cowboy combine free verse with prose storytelling, shines here, giving readers the rise, fall, and rise of the duo, beginning with their 1981 reunion concert in Central Park, then tracing their lives together from the beginning, as two boys in Queens who discover their love of music and their voices together. Each spread is a different song title, evoking a different period in their lives: “My Little Town” describes the Queens neighborhood where they grew up; “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” looks at their early success as Tom & Jerry. “Bleecker Street” looks at Paul’s life in Greenwich Village, and Art’s in Berkeley, where they both discover folk singers and activism; “Bookends” sees the two in a car, on New Year’s Day, 1966, listening to their number-one song, “The Sound of Silence”, on the radio. There’s an Afterword, discography, bibliography, and Musical Connections section, a chronological timeline of song influences.

G. Neri manages to fit a lifetime – into 48 pages. We learn that Paul Simon loves baseball and Art Garfunkel was going to be a math teacher; we discover that they were famous and potential has-beens by age 18; that they dreamed of making it big, and when fame failed them, wanted to just make music for the sake of making music. The digital artwork captures the Kew Gardens, Queens, neighborhoods as easily as it captures a small street in Paris, and the crowd at Central Park. This isn’t a picture book for beginning readers; it’s a beautifully illustrated volume of a moment in music history, in verse.

I’m a Queens girl, and you can’t be from Queens (or be a Queens College graduate) without Simon & Garfunkel being part of your DNA. My eldest went to the same high school as the duo; there’s an auditorium named for Art Garfunkel when you walk in the door. Reading When Paul Met Artie took me on a wonderful trip back to a Queens that I remember as a little girl, when I’d sit in the backseat of my uncle’s car as he listened to Simon & Garfunkel on the radio. Music fans and those of us who grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel’s music will love this beautiful book.

professional development

Professional Development Reading: Exploring the Science of Sounds

Posted on March 11, 2018March 10, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

My latest professional development read is Exploring the Science of Sounds: 100 Music Activities for Young Children, by Abigail Flesch Connors. Since I enjoy singing songs and teaching my storytime kids fingerplays, I wanted to see how else I could bring music into my programs. Two of my colleagues have done great programs with musical instruments and musical play, so I want to get in on the fun!

Exploring the Science of Sounds: 100 Musical Activities for Young Children, by Abigail Flesch Connors,
(October 2017, Gryphon House), $16.95, ISBN: 9780876597316

Although aimed at professionals that work with kids from preschool to age 7, many of these activities are easily adaptable to toddlers. We get an explanation of the science behind sounds – pitch, tempo, musical instruments and how they make the sounds they make – and activities that translate to teachable moments for kids (and caregivers!). Teach kids to make their own guitar/harp/stringed instruments using a tissue box and rubber bands! Use different surfaces to understand how sound travels with different thicknesses! Every single activity in here will enrich a storytime or form the groundwork for a STEAM/STEM music program that kids will love. I’m putting this one in my professional development budget; I can see myself referring to this book again and again.

Fiction, Intermediate

The Major Eights: New intermediate series for girls who wanna rock!

Posted on December 27, 2017December 26, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Major Eights: Battle of the Bands, by Melody Reed/Illustrated by Émile Pépin, (Jan. 2018, little bee books), $5.99, ISBN: 978-1-4998-0564-2

Nina introduces a new generation to Nina Simone

Posted on November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Nina: Jazz Legend and Civil-Rights Activist Nina Simone, by Alice Brière-Haquet/Illustrated by Bruno Liance, (Dec. 2017, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580898270

Broadway Baby board books will have you singing in no time!

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

If you’re ready to add some new songs to your storytime and snuggle time routine, may I suggest this new series of board books from Walter Foster Jr? In what I hope is the first of a long line of board books, the Broadway Baby series introduces classic songs from beloved musicals to little ones. And what better way to start than with two songs from The Sound of Music?

Broadway Baby: The Sound of Music, My Favorite Things
Based on the song by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Illustrated by Daniel Roode,
(Sept. 2017, Walter Foster Jr), $16.95, ISBN: 9781633223356
Perfect for all ages!

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens… everything we love about the song, My Favorite Things, is illustrated here, perfect for sing-a-longs with the little ones. Illustrations are vibrant and move across each spread, enchanting readers as the song flows. Don’t worry about those dog bites or those bee stings – the dog and the boy seem to have made up just fine; ditto for the bees and the picnickers in their territory. Perfect for sing-a-long storytime!

Broadway Baby: The Sound of Music, My Favorite Things
Based on the song by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Illustrated by Miriam Bos,
(Sept. 2017, Walter Foster Jr), $16.95, ISBN: 9781633223349
Perfect for all ages!

Kids gather around a singer, just like the Von Trapp family kids gathered around Maria to learn this classic about musical notes. Each note gets its own spread, beautifully illustrated: Doe, a deer, a female deer, Ray, a drop of golden sun… they’re all here, and the characters love learning each note!

Each book ends with a note about the Von Trapp Family, Rodgers and Hammerstein, the legendary musical team, and their timeless creation, The Sound of Music. Yes, I’m raving, and with good reason. These books, these songs, make me smile just thinking about them. It’s going to come out in my storytimes, and hopefully, another generation will love them as much as I do. Side note: I showed my manager these books the other day, and after she finished joining me in a rousing rendition of My Favorite Things, proceeded to order a set for her new grandson.

Display these with some of your sing along board books, like Jane Cabrera’s series (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, so many more), and get some of your baby classics out there! I love the BabyLit series of board books and think they’d go really well with Broadway Baby. Now, let’s think of some other songs we’d like to see. How about Shall We Dance, featuring babies dancing with members of their families?

Preschool Reads

Rock Away the Night with Granny!

Posted on April 19, 2017April 19, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Rock Away Granny, by Dandi Daley Mackall/Illustrated by Mike DeSantis, (Apr. 2017, Sky Pony Press), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-5107-0835-8

The life of a legend, through the eyes of those who knew her: California Dreamin’

Posted on January 20, 2017August 29, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

California Dreamin’, by Pénélope Bagieu, (March 2017, First Second), $24.99, ISBN: 9781626725461

Recommended for ages 12+

Mama Cass is a music legend. A member of The Mamas and the Papas folk group in the late 1960s, I grew up hearing the group bemoan Monday mornings and dream about California when the winters got too cold. There’s been a lot of ink spilled, writing about the dysfunctional group and its members, but Pénélope Bagieu pays homage to Cass by looking at her earliest years, before and leading up to the formation of the group, in her graphic novel, California Dream: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas and the Papas.

Beginning with her birth, California Dreamin’ tells Cass’ story through the eyes of the people in her life; her family, her friends, her band members. We learn something about each of them as they reveal their stories about life with Cass, and we get a glimpse into some of the singer’s defining moments: her work with Denny Doherty and the band, The Mugwumps; the group coming forming while performing in the Virgin Islands; Mama Cass joining The Mamas and the Papas despite John Phillips’ insistence that she was just providing “guest vocals”, and that the band was himself, Michelle Phillips, and Denny Doherty.

The art is expressive and touching; Bagieu makes her characters cartoony but real; touching and intense. Making Cass’ story a graphic novel will hopefully appeal to a younger audience who may not know the singer or her group, but will appreciate her ability to make things happen for herself and never take no for an answer.

Pénélope Bagieu’s first US graphic novel was 2015’s Exquisite Corpse..