Junie B. Jones The Musical Cast Album
Are your students fans of Junie B. Jones? Do kids ask you daily where to find her books? If so, then this is the musical for you. Adapted, with input from author Barbara Park, from four of the Junie B. books, these adorable, rollicking songs grab your attention from the first note to the last. Whether spunky Junie B. is singing about her “Top Secret Personal Beeswax” journal or the news that she needs glasses, this top notch production will have listeners grinning from ear to ear. Throughout the musical, Junie B. makes a new friend, gets excited about playing in a kickball tournament and is over the moon because of a new lunch box. Herb and Sheldon are each highlighted in a number, but it is the showstopper, “Gladys Gutzman, Queen of Snacks” that really brings the house down. A fantastic cast backed by an excellent orchestra make this a hit. Coming in at only 30 minutes the entire cast album could easily be used in a classroom as part of a lesson or in a library setting where one or two songs are incorporated into a program. This is a real delight that teachers, librarians, parents and most of all – kids will love!
Musician, author and advocate for musical play, Jim Gill returns with his latest album, Vote for Jim Gill. Each of the 14 songs are filled with clever lyrics and amazing musicians. The title tune, “Vote for Jim Gill” is an interesting song that shows how so many parts of the body also sound like campaign promises. While that is a very timely tune, some of the songs have a more classical theme to them like “Conducting Can Be Fun” (I have to admit that I may have conducted this song a couple of times in my living room) and “My Accordion is on the Run” in which a rogue accordion ends up playing snippets from Liszt, Debussy and Ives while teaching children all about the instrument.
Students have many options nowadays when learning the lessons of history – they can read a book, a newspaper or magazine article written at the time, or watch a movie, documentary or news clip. Or, sometimes most powerful of all, they can close their eyes and listen to those who lived through that period tell their stories in their own words. And that’s what We Stood Up does – provides students and teachers with the opportunity to hear from those who experienced the Civil Rights movement first hand. People like Congressman John Lewis, former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, Greensboro Four member Franklin McCain and Julian Bond, activist and founding member of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
