cover image Let's Sing Together! [With CD (Audio)]

Let's Sing Together! [With CD (Audio)]

Peter Yarrow. Sterling, $16.95 (48pp) ISBN 978-1-4027-5963-5

Folk musician Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary fame) offers an appealing addition to his Peter Yarrow Songbook series (Favorite Folk Songs; Sleepytime Songs). The lyrics of 12 folk songs, rooted in several cultural traditions, are illustrated in Widener's simple yet resonant folk art style, which creatively mingles conventional, earth-toned scenarios (a cowboy on horseback gazes on grazing buffalo in the painting accompanying ""Home on the Range"") with images featuring vividly hued, fanciful flourishes (John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt sports yellow trousers and a red blazer and waves a feathered purple top hat). The songs likewise vary from the melancholy of ""My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"" to the tenacity of ""We Shall Not Be Moved"" to the playfulness of ""Hey, Lolly, Lolly."" The author provides guitar chords, historical notes and personal anecdotes for each song. On the included CD, Yarrow sings each song, accompanied by his talented daughter Bethany Yarrow and a quartet of children. An energetic and uplifting package. Ages 5-up.