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Animal Songs for Really Smart Kids

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PreS-Gr 3—Veteran performer David Polansky matches musical styles with smart lyrics in this collection of 18 tunes "to educate, amuse & amaze." Opening with the jazzy "Cats or Dogs," Polansky debates which is the better pet. He moves into a rap/poem about where ants are found in the world, a samba about the unusual animals found in the Amazon (features the vocals of Teresa Inez and Polansky on flugelhorn), a country-flavored song about armadillos, a march about dinosaurs (with a riff from The Twilight Zone), channels Kermit in "Frog," and offers a sea shanty about lobsters. The rest of the songs feature piano/keyboards/synthesizers in Stephen Sondheim-like show tunes as Polansky sings about bandicoots, cockroaches, moose, mosquitoes, lizards, slugs, naked mole rats, and the walrus. Two Broadway-styled numbers ("Koala" and "All Is of the Earth") feature soprano Corinne Chase singing lead. These well-produced, humorous tunes have just enough information to capture the attention of youngsters and should find a place in the classroom.—Stephanie Bange, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
In this beautiful, heartrending, yet horrifying film, North Koreans tell their stories of imprisonment, sexual slavery, torture, murder, and escape to China or South Korea during the nearly 50-year regime of Kim Il Sung (1912—94). The interviews are illustrated through the interspersion of dance sequences, archival news footage, and drawings. Particularly interesting are the North Korean propaganda films celebrating Kim Il Sung as God and showing in the face of mass starvation happy workers, elaborate military displays, and the creation of a new flower in 1988 in honor of the 46th birthday of Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong Il. A valuable time line traces 20th-century events in Korea. Bonus features include previously unreleased footage of camp refugees. This mesmerizing film displays excellent production values and is highly recommended for Asia collections.—Kitty Chen Dean, formerly with Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, NY
Reviewed by Kitty Chen Dean , May 01, 2011

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