Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams and Tara Nicole Whitaker

In Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams (the singer) and Tara Nicole Whitaker, a little girl sings about her goldfish, Sal, and why they're the best of friends. As she's talking about Sal and how she gives perfect bubble kisses, the heroine (the little girl on the cover) is swept into a fantasy world in which she has become a mermaid and the goldfish is no longer trapped in a bowl but free in a large body of water.

The entire book is a single song and it comes with both a CD and a QR code that you can scan with your phone or tablet. I mentioned Bubble Kisses when it arrived and at the time, I thought it was very strange that it had a CD because most people don't have CD players, anymore. Mine is in the garage, somewhere, and I have no idea how to load music to a phone so I have to listen to the radio in the car and thought I'd have to pull out my old car to listen to it! But, I hadn't bothered to take the CD out, yet, so I didn't realize there was a QR code behind it (although that was probably in the publicity material and I just forgot).

At any rate, all that's to say that I was wrong and unless you have no phone, tablet, DVD player, or CD player, you're going to be able to listen to the song. I presume probably 95% of people have access to at least one of those.

The song is kind of an upbeat, jazzy song that . . . sorry . . . reminds me of a 1950s television advertisement. I can't think of anything else to compare it to. I can easily imagine my eldest granddaughter bobbing to the song when she was a little bit younger (she's 5 and reading at 3rd grade level, now) and I have a feeling my youngest granddaughter would enjoy it, too. It's definitely got the sound of a children's song, a little repetitive and very cheerful.

Recommended but not a favorite - Maybe one of the best things about Bubble Kisses is the fact that it has an African American heroine. I really appreciate the fact that children's publishers have been working hard at embracing diversity in the stories they acquire, in recent years. I do like the upbeat music, the quirky but charming illustrations, and the fantasy of the story. The only thing I dislike is the fact that it's written as a song and if you just want to read the book aloud, it's going to sound a little weird. That keeps it from being a favorite because I love to read aloud to children and a good story that's readable will always be my favorite. But, it only takes one listen to catch on to the rhythm and for children who love to dance and sing, Bubble Kisses will make a cute and fun addition to a home library.


©2020 Nancy Horner All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown

Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown
Copyright 2015 (published in August)
Book and CD - Sterling Children's Books/Ages 3-6
36 pp. 

I read and reviewed the first volume of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Songs (also including a music CD) in March of 2014 and enjoyed it enough to jump right on the offer to read and review a second volume, this time with focus on the seasons.

Last time, I read the book before popping in the CD. This time, I decided it would be better to pop the CD in and read along, enjoying the book and music together, as they were intended.

As with the first book, Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons contains Margaret Wise Brown's lullabies illustrated by a number of different artists. So, each spread is an entirely different experience. Of course, my favorite illustrations were the two with cats in them, but I really do love the diversity of artistic styles. Musically, I only had one complaint. There was a single song with the kind of "easy listening" style in which the instrumentals made me think of elevator music -- or, maybe something you'd hear in a shopping mall. I don't know what exactly it was about that particular song that made me bristle, but fortunately the rest were lovely.

Recommended - When my kids were small, we had quite a little pile of books on cassette. Some of them were books with music, some were just stories. My children (particularly the eldest) loved being able to play those books repeatedly on their own and Eldest continued to play them when he became old enough to read along. So, I wouldn't limit the reading audience to 3-6 years of age. Youngsters who enjoy music and early readers would love to be able to play this kind of book without Mom's help, long after they've figured out when to turn the pages. The music CD may also be great on its own for relaxing, since the songs have a gentleness that's perfect for nap time.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown - book and CD

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown is a children's book with selections from songs that Margaret Wise Brown wrote before her death. Packed away for decades, they were just recently brought to light, a selection illustrated and put into book form, the lyrics scored and recorded. 

When I read Goodnight Songs, I have to admit I thought they might be a little awkward to read aloud to a child because they're not overly heavy on rhyme and rhythm. The illustrations are gorgeous but I think the book is best flipped through at leisure by a child with the songs playing in the background. The music itself is wonderful - very folksy and gentle.  I love it so much that I sometimes just play it as comforting background music.  I can particularly visualize the music playing in a preschool during free time or nap time.  It's less sing-along, more relaxation/playtime music, in my humble opinion.

Regardless, I love the book and highly recommend Goodnight Songs those with preschoolers and young elementary children, in particular. The music is beautiful, the illustrations gorgeous, the lyrics not-so-rhythmic but they're probably a lot more comfortable to read aloud once you've done so a few times. 

You can get a peek inside Goodnight Songs, here.

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy of Goodnight Songs. 

Brief update because I've been offline:

Our home Internet connection went hinky 2 days ago so I'm actually preparing this post as I sit in a McDonald's, using their wireless and Kiddo's laptop.  I don't have a device that's connected to the Internet by any other means (my phone is one step up from the stupidest kind of phone you can get - no fancy features that allow me to get online; and, my ancient, 1st-gen. iPad doesn't have 3G or whatever people use, these days . . . basically, we're tech cheapskates) so until we get the problem resolved there won't be any posts.  We've got a technician coming this afternoon so hopefully they'll get us back up and running, soon. 

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.