Season Sings! By Miss Carole

PreS-Gr 3—Divided into four sections—Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall—these 30 songs feature several musical styles such as folk, march, rock, jazz, show tune, bluegrass, and a cappella chant. Award-winning performer Carole Stephens has a strong, confident voice, and she is joined on several tracks by the Macaroni Soup Singers, an enthusiastic children's chorus. Accomplished performances on guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, keyboards, and percussion accompany the numbers. Several songs have original lyrics set to a traditional tune. "Everybody Have a Seat" uses the "Shortnin' Bread" tune. "Hat and Jacket, Pants and Boots" is sung to the tune of "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes." And Stephens uses "The Farmer in the Dell" tune for "We're Marching in the Snow." Participatory movement is encouraged with songs such as "Jingle Bells and STOP," "Jump in the Puddles," "Go 'Round and 'Round the Village," and "Leaves Are Falling." The children's chorus also joins in on several chants which encourage movement: "Snow Rhyme," "Snowman Trio," "The Raindrops Are Falling," "Rain, Rain Go Away," "Here Is the Beehive," and "Five Little Hotdogs." For the beautifully performed "Autumn Leaves," Stephens includes instructions for a game using construction paper leaves. "You Are My Sunshine" and "Rattlin' Bog" have lively bluegrass arrangements, and "Hola/Adios" is performed to the "Mexican Hat Dance" tune. This album will be very useful in classroom and library story time settings.—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX