Man Gave Names to All the Animals - Bob Dylan

Illustrated by Jim Arnosky
Sterling, 2010
$17.95 - with CD of Dylan singing the song
32 pages
Endpapers - a gorgeous green wash

The 170+ animals drawn in this magical book completely cover each page in spectacular color. Mr. Arnosky can certainly paint animals! Kids will spend hours pouring over every double-page spread. And they can do it while listening to the song.

"Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning,
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago."

Dylan wrote the song in 1979. Why don't I seem to know it?

There are lots of beautiful picture books being produced right now to accompany special songs. (My favorite is still It's a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong's song, illustrated by Ashley Bryan). Think Let There Be Peace on Earth, The Marvelous Toy, All God's Critters, and Forever Young.

Let There Be Peace on Earth - Jill Jackson & Sy Miller

Illustrated by David Diaz
Tricycle Press (Berkeley) 2009
$18.99
24 pgs. & cd
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Batik illustrations - snowflakes and circles, showing different symbols of peace from around the world

This seems to be a year that old folk songs are being turned into lovely picture books. Peter Yarrow's done a couple really recently and tonight I bumped into this one. Who can't love this song -- its simple words and memorable tune? Written in 1955, the words are now renewed in this eye-popping picture book.

The last few pages are informative - about the songwriters, the creation of the song, the actual score of the song, and interesting explanations for 12 different peace symbols. These are fascinating - from the Japanese crane (and mention of Sadako Sasaki) and middle Eastern pslm trees to Scandianvian misteltoe and the Chinese ying and yang - clear and simple information to take in, to share.

David Diaz continues to keep me enthralled. I've drooled over his illustrations before - his pleasing colors and designs completely cover the pge. They were "rendered in Adobe Illustration and Photoshop." How?

The Composer is Dead - Lemony Snicket

Illustrator: Carson Ellis
Music Composed by Nathaniel Stookey
2009
Rating: 4
Endpapers (back of covers): Silhouttes of composers

When the composer is found dead, the inspector is called in to interview all the usual suspects - the members of the orchestra. He starts with the strings, proceeds to the woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Their excuses were all plausible. And then the inspector remembered the conductor. "You've been murdering composers for years! In fact, wherever there's a conductor, you're sure to find a dead composer!" And then there's a long list of famous dead composers.

This is chock full of information about an orchestra and the instruments that make it up. I read the book at B&N, so I didn't get to listen to the CD - which was performed by the San Francisco Symphony. Looks like Tracks 1-9 are the story read by the author and tracks 10-18 are instrumentals. I'd love to hear it!

GREAT vocabulary; lurking, flamboyant, interrogate, weary, "on the contrary," crucial, treachery, alibis, boisterous, arrogant, ruckus, agitated, nostalgic, unison......

(Not my favorite illustrations, but they work with the book.)