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Anna Banana Band!

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PreS-Gr 1—Anna Bohichik and her band serve up 11 original songs, one traditional chant, and an excellent cover ("Twist and Shout"). Anna's light, bouncy vocals are backed up by guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, bongos, congas, percussion, and dobro. Musical styles range from 60s-style rock to bluegrass, reggae, jazz, and Latin. The band chants "Five Punky Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed" with a lovely minor jazz instrumental backup. "The Little Monster" is more afraid of the human in the bed than vice versa. Other songs include "Dinosong," "Many Shapes," "S-U-B-W-A-Y," "Unity," "Robot Dance" with participatory movements, "Hello/Hola" which teaches some basic Spanish words, "My Shadow," "Parade" with nice harmonies, "Punky Monkey Theme Song," and "Baby Brother, Max." A lively addition to children's music collections.—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX
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 , Oct 01, 2011

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