A great way to introduce children to classical music.

America’s first Children's Poet Laureate has written all-new verses to accompany the composer Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals, and the illustrator of the Harry Potter books has turned these rollicking rhymes into a picture-book fun fest. Included is a CD of the music and of Jack Prelutsky reading the verses. A note to parents and teachers by Judith Bachleitner, head of the music department at the prestigious Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, suggests ways preschoolers can act out the music—tromp like an elephant, hop like a kangaroo, glide like a swan—or, for older children, be creatively inspired by this joyful work.

Along with Peter and the Wolf, Saint-Saëns’s suite has long been the go-to piece to introduce children to classical music. This delightful collection of new poems by Prelutsky serves as both helpful libretto and stand-alone treasure. The poems correlate to the animal-themed movements and neatly capture each creature’s essence. Staccato verse mirrors the hens’ frantic pace (“They scurry scurry scurry/ They fuss and fret and fret and fuss/ With feathers in a flurry”), while humor spotlights the rooster’s machismo (“He seems to think a chicken egg/ Was something he invented”). GrandPré’s (Tickety Tock) vibrant acrylic and paper collage scenes exude the same imaginative insight. The feathers of the egocentric rooster curl into a finger that points to himself as he balances an egg on his beak. Wild donkeys, who “haven’t any manners,” are crazily disruptive at a birthday party, with one inhaling the food, sporting whipped cream and sprinkles on his head. This nod to the familiar pin-the-tail party game reveals just how deeply child-savvy these two talents remain. An accompanying CD contains music performed by the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra and poems read by Prelutsky. Ages 6-12. (Aug.)

Categories:

• Literature & Fiction
  
  
  • United States
    • Poetry