This holiday season don’t forget to sit and read with your children or students. West Music has a variety of children’s literature that comes to mind to encourage reading and perhaps singing too! Here are a few of my old favorites and some new ones too!

Just as you’re headed to purchase a new tool for someone’s stocking – check out “Old MacDonald had a Woodshop” by Lisa Shulman and illustrated by Ashley Wolff.  It’s a delightful twist on the classic song, with loads of fun sound effects as Old MacDonald is busy building something.  One by one, all of the animals on the farm come to help with a rurr rurr, tap tap, chip chip, scritch scratch and swish swash, then soon the project is done.

Then for some fun with for little ones (and big ones too) that have a hard time getting up in the morning, Neil Sedaka has changed the lyrics to his classic “Waking Up is Hard to Do” for the younger set.   Now sing along with me… “Just brush your teeth and then get dressed.  When you comb your hair you’ll look the best.  Now you know it’s really true, Wakin’ Up is hard to do.”  With delightful illustrations by Daniel Miyares, this will encourage all the sleepyheads at your house to get out of bed!  This selection also includes a 3-Song CD as recorded by the Grammy ® Award Winner himself – Neil Sadaka.

When my daughter was younger, one of her favorites was “Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go” by John Langstaff, pictures by Nancy Winslow Parker.

It's an old English cumulative rhyme that introduces children to their favorite farm animals with verses that encourage them to learn the sound that each animal makes.  The illustrations are perfect for young children!  Then “Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go” encourages the imagination of children to make up their own verses as the song continues.  Here’s how the folk song begins:

Oh, a –hunting we will go,

A-hunting we will go:

We’ll catch a fox and put him in a box,

And then we’ll let him go!

The fun continues as the children hunt for a fox, a skunk, and even a brontosaurus with wildly silly results!  What new rhymes will you think of?

Then while the World Series has just ended – there’s always hope for new year with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” as written by Jack Norwoth, Illustrated by Amika Hiraro with a 3-Song CD performed by Carly Simon!  Colorful, collage-like illustrations are your ticket into Sluggers Stadium, where two animal teams step up to the place and vie for victory.  What a game it is!  Giraffe winds up at the pitcher’s mound, hoping for a strikeout. But with a thwack, the ball meets bat and Crocodile is off and running.  Can Tiger tag him out at first?  He’d better, because Elephant’s up next and that will cause a commotion!  We’re all root, root rooting for the home team – but who’s going to win?

Be sure to include books with your gifts this season and all the year through!