Music for Storytimes
In my experience in libraries, there are generally two types of staff who do storytimes – those who make lesson plans months in advance, and those who pull things together just days, if not hours (hopefully not minutes) before storytime begins. As the fall sessions of storytimes and classroom visits begin, no matter your planning style, here are some songs that should find their way into your rotation.
Our first album today comes all the way from New Zealand. Kath Bee brings over 20 years experience writing and performing children’s music. Her latest album, Simple Action Songs for Babies to 2 Yrs for Learning & Fun is exactly what you need for your baby and toddler storytimes. The collection fittingly opens with a hello song and closes with a goodbye song. In between are tracks that each focus on one simple action including clapping, wiggling toes, standing up, jumping, and spinning around. Running times of 30-60 seconds and clear, simple lyrics that feature plenty of repetition and a pace that is easy for parents and children to follow, make these tunes great additions to any storytime.
Next up is Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta SEASONS: Songs to Celebrate All Four Seasons, the latest album from veteran songwriter and performer Katherine Dines. All 12 of the tracks were written during the pandemic and tested with live audiences in the last year. The album opens with songs about spring before moving to summer, autumn, and winter. With the exception of “Five Little Jack O’Lanterns,” none of the songs is directly connected to a holiday, making them accessible for all audiences. Dines knows exactly what appeals to children with songs about things like birds, bugs, snowflakes, and leaves. While it’s easy to imagine how you might use songs like “Baby Birds Sing ‘Cheep Cheep,'” and “Tickle It Away” in storytimes or “Sleigh Ride” in a lapsit, Dines makes it even easier with an array of videos and tips for using several of the songs with young audiences.
The final album is Talk Read Sing Play from educators and performers John Keenan and Jo-Anne Wilson-Keenan, known as the musical duo Bay Song. The Keenans are the founders of Keenan Literacy & Learning and believe that “Everything we do supports human rights, literacy, and learning for children and their families. We view literacy and learning as human rights that lead to other human rights.” Their latest collection of songs definitely supports that belief as their lyrics celebrate reading and singing and the joy of words. The album features several songs that would work well in storytime including the lapsit tune “Baby-Bop,” the shaker song “Shake Your Rattle Baby,” and the movement song “Put on Your Dancing Shoes,”
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Now let’s turn the spotlight on 
And finally, the perfect album with which to end the day, 
Let’s kick things off with 
Next up, 
Finally, nobody rocks quite like 
Almost two weeks ago, my family (my sister, her husband, our 84 year old dad, and I) embarked on a road trip to South Dakota. None of us had been to the western side of the state before so we were all very excited. We saw all the sights along the way – the world’s largest truck stop in Iowa, the Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, the Black Hills and the Badlands. We also made a brief stop in Deadwood and checked out two amazing sights, Bear Country, USA and Reptile Gardens which were tucked in amongst some kitschy places but were really incredible. From the time we set off on our trip, my dad said there was only one thing he wanted to buy while we were gone – an authentic cowboy hat. As you can see, his wish was granted on the second day of the trip and he definitely got his money’s worth out of it while we were gone.
We made the 14 hour trip to and from Rapid City, South Dakota over the course of two days each way, making 
My love of languages began when I was a child; probably around the time I was in grade school, and we learned “Are You Sleeping?” in English, French, and German. My interest in French only deepened when I found this book, Fun with French, at the public library. I checked it out so many times I’m surprised they didn’t gift it to me when I graduated. My dad spoke Spanish fluently, but I studied Latin and French in high school and when I went to college, ended up getting a degree in French. Even though many years have gone by, my interest in languages has never waned. I’ve taken conversational Spanish classes specific to work in the library, and quite a while ago, even took a Russian class at the community college, just for the fun of it. While my French and Spanish skills have greatly diminished due to lack of use, it is when I hear music in those languages that I seem to recall the most. Words and phrases come back to me, dancing through my mind along with whatever melody accompanies them.
The first album up is Au Zoo (At the Zoo) – French Learning Songs from 
Last, but certainly not least, on today’s playlist is the first full-length Spanish language album from 
To continue our Pride Month celebration, today I’m shining a spotlight on the brand new video from 
Happy Pride Month! I am very excited to kick-off this June with the newest album from the Philadelphia-based trio 
As New Zealand Music Month wraps up, I’d like to turn our attention to the southern hemisphere and the latest outing from Levity Beet. Levity Beet and the Aotearoa All Stars, the first album from Levity’s new label “Wildbeet Records,” is chock full of New Zealand notables and features collaborations with 12 different writers/performers/producers from New Zealand’s rich family music industry. Special guests include familiar names like Itty Bitty Beats, Music with Michal, and Claudia Robin Gunn as well as names that might be new to American audiences such as Suzy Cato, Craig Smith, fleaBITE, Kath Bee, Judy Cranston, Chris Sanders, Mr. Roberelli, MLO, and Loopy Tunes.