Available:*
Library | Shelf Number | Material Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Musgrave Library | FOLIOJ 784.4 GONN | Juvenile Non-Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"Work songs, love songs, ballads and blues, lullabyies, spirituals, protest songs, and sheer nonsense make up this entertaining collection of 62 traditional and contemporary favorites. The exuberant illustrations manage to be both familiar and dramatic and range in tone from comic exaggeration to understatement and unashamed sentiment. Informal notes at the head of each song give something about history, origin, performance, and possibilities for variation. The notes also express the sense of connection with ordinary people's lives that is at the heart of this collection."--Booklist (starred)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2 Up-- ``From California to the New York Island,'' this book was made for you and me! Hard as it is to believe, Gonna Sing My Head Off! is the first serious collection for young readers since Ruth Crawford Seeger's memorable American Folk Songs for Children (Doubleday, 1980). Margaret Boni's The Fireside Book of Folksongs (S. & S., 1952; o.p.) and Tom Glazer's Treasury of Folk Songs (Grosset, 1964; o.p.) are also library staples. Hang on to them; there's surprisingly little overlap here. Of the 62 folk songs Krull has selected, only 21 are in Glazer's larger compendium. Some classics from Seeger's title are not in this one, but Krull has amassed so many outstanding selections that no one will be disappointed. She pays tribute to many of our folk singers by including ``Joe Hill'' for Joan Baez, ``Good Night Irene'' and ``Rock Island Line'' for Leadbelly, ``If I Had a Hammer' for Pete Seeger, and ``So Long, It's Been Good to Know You'' for Woodie Guthrie. The oversized book itself is handsome, uncluttered, and accessible. Short, readable paragraphs accompany each entry and tell a little of its history. The musical arrangements are easy to follow. There is a helpful index of song types as well as of first lines. Garns's warm pastel drawings evoke the many moods of the music with great success. His rich palette, use of perspective, and energetic lines add verve and variety to this sparkling sampler. Librarians, teachers, parents, and children who get a hold of this book are sure to sing their heads off. --Ann Stell, Central Islip Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
PW described this anthology as ``akin to an invigorating musical tour of American history and American regions.'' All ages. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
All ages. Work songs, love songs, ballads and blues, lullabies, spirituals, protest songs, and sheer nonsense make up this entertaining collection of 62 traditional and contemporary favorites. For each song, Krull provides the simplest piano and guitar arrangements in a clear double-page spread design that includes the words to all the verses. The arrangement is alphabetical, which is fine, since that's how users will look for particular songs and be led from one to another. The exuberant illustrations, mostly in bright pastels, manage to be both familiar and dramatic--especially those of trains hurtling through the night--and range in tone from comic exaggeration to understatement and unashamed sentiment. In the same way, Krull's performance directions range from Rebellious ("Beans in My Ears") and Loping ("Git Along, Little Dogies") to Gently ("So Long, It's Been Good to Know You") and Electrically ("Michael, Row the Boat Ashore"). Always there's a strong sense of people singing aloud, as in the instruction for "On Top of Old Smoky" ("Try to Be Serious"). Informal notes at the head of each song give something about history, origin, performance, and possibilities for variation. The notes also express the sense of connection with ordinary people's lives that is at the heart of this collection. A Book-of-the-Month Club selection. ~--Hazel Rochman