Repeat Repeat Repeat

It usually appears out of nowhere.  Perhaps, a specific smell signals it.  A word or phrase may awaken it.  A few notes from another melody can revive it.  However it arrives, it is here to stay, refusing to leave.  It soundlessly follows you everywhere, sometimes for hours (or more).

At first, you allow it to play in your mind.  You may even hum along with it.  And, as hard as it is to say, you soon find yourself dancing.  In Ear Worm! (Candlewick Press, January 25, 2022) written by Jo Knowles with illustrations by Galia Bernstein, a worm, a tiny youngster of a worm, has a song firmly fixed in his mind.  He is puzzled by its appearance.  How did it get there?

One summer day, Little Worm went out to play and

discovered he had a song stuck in his head.

"Shimmy shimmy, no-sashay,

shimmy shimmy, no-sashay!"

he sang as he wriggled along.

Meeting his first friend of the day, Little Worm was told by Owl the meaning of an ear worm.  Of course, Little Worm thought that name was hilarious.  When he asked Owl if he put the song in his head, Owl said no.  He had his own song which he proceeded to sing.  There might have been some wing waving involved.

These two demonstrating their ear worm antics next met Chipmunk.  Chipmunk did not give the ear worm to Little Worm.  Chipmunk performed an equally original song and dance.  As the trio sang and moved to their own music, Bunny gently inquired about their songs and dances.  Little Worm was seeking answers and Bunny had her own answer.  Little Worm was feeling a tad bit discouraged.

Fox strolled onto the scene, sharing another different song and dance.  Now, there were five songs and five dances.  It was as if the members of an orchestra decided to stand up and dance their parts!  It was a party of happy-go-lucky participants!

Soon, Little Worm's father called him home for his nap.  Papa Worm wrapped Little Worm in his bed. Then, Papa Worm said . . .

In a lively blend of narrative and dialogue, author Jo Knowles introduces us to Little Worm and his four forest friends.  Little Worm's question to each friend and their subsequent response supply us with a rousing cadence.  Jo Knowles's use of alliteration and rhyming are an open invitation for reader participation.  You can't read this story without humming or singing or dancing or all three!  Here is a passage.

"That's not it at all," said Little Worm.  "But I like your moves!"

"Thank you," said Chipmunk.  "Mind if I join your search?"

"Fine by me," said Little Worm.

So:

"CHEE

CHEE,

CHITTER-EE!

"WAVE, WAVE, TALK to THE WING!"

and

"Shimmy shimmy, no-sashay!"

they went along.

Do you feel something happening to you when you look at the front of the matching dust jacket and book case?  That something is spreading from the tip of your toes to the top of your head and it is sheer happiness.  Look at Fox, Owl, Chipmunk, Little Worm and Bunny.  Every single one of them are grooving to their own music, their own special ear worm.  Their body postures and facial expressions here, and throughout the book, portray camaraderie and cheer.  The title text and musical notes are varnished on the dust jacket.

To the left of the spine on the jacket and case is a canvas of white.  (White is used wonderfully throughout the book to highlight and elevate the characters, their expressions, and movements.) The text reads:

Who put that song in

Little Worm's head?

Little Worm is singing his tune next to two yellow daisies. 

On the opening and closing endpapers in pink hues on pink is a pattern of Little Worm in all his various dance moves.  His wide eyes and smiling face are a superb hello and goodbye for this book.  Prior to the title page, Little Worm is alone on a background of pristine white.  On the title page in the lower, right-hand corner is a clump of blades of grass.  The title text is spelled by Little Worm.  He twists and turns his body for each letter and the exclamation point.  

With each page turn, the artwork of Galia Bernstein, digitally rendered, welcomes us into the world of Little Worm and his friends.  Each animal, by their stance, reflects their characteristics.  They are highly animated, especially when they start to dance to their original ear worm.  The animals are brought close to the reader.  There is little more than them on a white canvas except when Little Worm first meets them.  A pine bough is next to Owl, an acorn is near Chipmunk, Bunny stands by two yellow daisies, and Fox is near blades of grass like Little Worm.  Readers will delight in seeing what Papa Worm uses to clean their home.

One of my many favorite illustrations is actually three smaller ones on a single page.  It shows Owl doing three more dance steps after the first display of a leg lift and wing spreads.  In the first one, Owl extends both wings forward as one leg kicks back.  In the second one, Owl bends back with both wings and one leg extended back.  In the final move, Owl is slightly bowed with one wing extended up and the other bent to cover his face.  Little Worm watches from the lower, right-hand corner.  (I can guarantee story time listeners might stand up and start to dance at this point.)

You will never feel the same way again about getting an ear worm after reading this book, Ear Worm! written by Jo Knowles with illustrations by Galia Bernstein.  The upbeat words and illustrations are a boogie-woogie dance delight that will have listeners begging you to read it repeatedly.  This would make a wonderful reader's theater.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Jo Knowles and Galia Bernstein and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Jo Knowles has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Galia Bernstein has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  Jo Knowles wrote a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club about this title for the cover reveal.  At the publisher's website you can download a teacher's guide.  At Penguin Random House you can view interior images.

(My curiosity got the better of me.  I found an article about ear worms, Your Brain on Music: Earworms, The Kennedy Center.) 

A Melody Forever In Memory

A song, its words and range of notes, can sustain you.  It can raise your spirits by pushing you forward to bigger and brighter accomplishments.  This song can connect you to another single soul or to a multitude.  This music can and will remain in our collective memories.

When you think of music or a song, the first thing which comes to mind is not usually that it can be a rallying point for a significant group of people but perhaps this should be.  Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" inspired Generations (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, August 6, 2019) written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Keith Mallett imagines a story beginning at the beginning of a birth of a song. Like many births it starts loud and strong but is quietly carried from heart to heart.

Before you were born, a girl learned a song.

This girl's principal was James Weldon Johnson.  His brother was John Rosamond Johnson.  Together they composed a song to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  This girl sang this song over and over until she and 499 other children sang it loud and strong on February 12, 1900.

She continued to sing it to her students, and to her husband as they traveled from Florida to settle in Pennsylvania.  And she sang it to her son.  This son heard both his mother and father humming or singing this song as they planned their futures or needed to raise up their work-weary souls. At church, one day, this son, this boy, sang this song like his mother had.

Back straight, head high,

heart and mouth open . . . 

Through World War II, discrimination and joining the NAACP, the son, now a man sang.  His daughter learned the melody.  It carried her through the news that rocked our nation, the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

And so, it was that this song moved through generations, from parents to children.  It followed them during protests, during trials won and lost as an attorney, and to joyfully celebrate family reunions.  It was sung at college graduations and the opening of businesses.  One fine day, another girl, 116 years later sang this same song as crowds gathered and the first African American president and members of another family rang a bell to signal the opening of a momentous building housing memories and contributions of the African American people in these United States.

As you read this narrative penned by Kelly Starling Lyons, you can feel something building inside you, something good and something powerful.  For the members of each generation, her descriptions of parents passing the learning of the words and the singing of the song to spouses and children are beautiful portraits of family and a larger community.  Her repetition of the words

back straight, head high, heart and 

mouth open

followed by verses from the Black National Anthem sung by the children actively engages readers.  Her inclusion of realistic historical struggles endured, and triumphs celebrated elevates and enlarges reader understanding and compassion.  Here is a passage.

And you know what?

Her little boy learned that song.

He listened to her hum it as she dreamed of

being able to teach again in her new home.

He heard his daddy sing it when the days

at the steel mill wore him down.

When you look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, the color choices for the sky complement the child lifting her voice in song.  The luminous yellow, golden yellow and orange with the deep sky blue could either be a sunrise or a sunset, which is an excellent choice.  It reminds readers of the enduring quality of this song all day, every day.  The use of light and shadow on the face of the girl is a thing of beauty.  Can you hear her singing Lift every voice and sing?  To the left, on the back, is a continuation of the sky with four lines from the song placed near the top.

On the opening and closing endpapers on a canvas of pale purple are the lyrics to the song.  The colors in the sky are the background for the title and verso pages.  The illustrations by Keith Mallett 

were drawn freehand and painted digitally.  

They alternate between full-page pictures and double-page images.  The faces of all the people featured are full of warmth, passion and purpose.  Each visual regardless of the place and time has a portion which draws our attention.  Individual elements are authentic with respect to their historical perspective.  The designs in the fabric of the blankets around the infants are of importance.    

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the son of the first girl is singing the anthem in church.  A deep navy background enhances the arched stained glass window on the left.  The boy is standing in front of the window garbed in his choir robe of black with a purple collar and wearing a white shirt with a black tie.  His hands are crossed in front of him and placed over his heart.  His mouth is open in song with eyes mirroring his reverence for the words and music.  To his left and extending over the gutter are five other choir members.  They, too, are singing, but because of the lighting you feel as though the boy's voice is predominant.

Informative through an imagined but historical point of view Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Inspired Generations written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Keith Mallett will have you seeking out as many renditions of the song as you can and soon you will be humming it, too.  This is a moving and memorable narrative with illustrations which envelope you.  Be sure to read the full page author's note at the end.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Kelly Starling Lyons has accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  Keith Mallett has an account on Tumblr.  At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  I hope you enjoy these renditions of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

You might want to read this NPR Music broadcast, Till Victory is Won: The Staying Power of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' which has links to other performances.