Music to Boogie To
You've seen them in the stores or maybe someone has gifted one to you. Those baby lullabies that drive you crazy. Or the ones that are transformed from a favorite musical group. I just couldn't do it, and had my girls listen to the originals. So Mini Me (moreso than Little Lion) is somewhat versed in The Smiths, The Cure and maybe U2. She also loves a lot of classic rock. Skate punk is only enjoyed by me in this house. And some folk rock is fine with just the Bookworm girls and me.
However, when Mini Me was one, we started watching this fabulous show called Jack's Big Music Show, which featured a lot of fantastic children's music artists. Yup, this is where we discovered Laurie Berkner, one of the best children's musicians out there. Last spring, I wrote about attending the LA Times Festival of Books. And while we were SO excited to meet so many authors and illustrators who we admire, the driving reason for us attending on Saturday rather than Sunday was to meet Laurie Berkner, who was promoting the transition of her song "We Are the Dinosaurs" into a picture book.
Like I said in my previous post, we were beyond the moon when Laurie gave the audience a mini concert! Laurie Berkner (along with the Laurie Berkner Band) has a knack for creating music that is age-appropriate, catchy, and fun to sing along and dance to. Yes, even for adults.
And, here's the thing, my Mini Me as a toddler REALLY loved to sing and dance. More singing than dancing, even as an 11 year old now, and Berkner's music was the perfect adjunct for it all. As I've posted about before, Mini Me had her two-year-old birthday at Gymboree, and her fantastic teacher (Christa) had an idea of doing a father-daughter dance. So she handed out ribbon rings to all the kids, and Mini Me danced around to Berkner's "Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)" with Mr. Bookworm while the kids waved their ribbon rings with their little noodle arms. (Yes, I'm referencing from an episode of Gravity Falls there.)
It was heartfelt and charming and is one of my top ten memories.
Both Bookworm girls have grown up listening to all of Berkner's albums. So when I heard that she was releasing a new album of favorites as DANCE REMIXES, you can bet that I was intrigued. Laurie Berkner's new album has many of our all-time favorites re-imagined, including "BOOTS", "Victor Vito", and "Monster Boogie".
Here's the thing. Just as Berkner's song says, I really love to dance too. I love dance in general, especially as an artistic and expressive form. Sometimes I'll grab one of the Bookworm girls and we'll just start dancing in the kitchen, usually to a classic rock song. And these Laurie Berkner Dance Remixes are not only danceable, but they hold lovely memories of their younger years. Win, Win. Even though Mini Me is at the age when she sometimes groans when I start an impromptu dance-a-thon, I don't mind. I know she's smiling inside.
Diversity side note: I only uploaded links from Laurie Berkner's official youTube site, but if you can stream Jack's Big Music Show or watch the DVD, you'll see that even back then, the Laurie Berkner band has always included a diverse array of back-up singers and dancers (AKA kids) in her videos. I love that it's not really even mentioned, it's just what they do. They include kids of various neurocapabilities as well.
Below is the video which stars some of her characters from the picture book version of We Are the Dinosaurs. And I've also included another Bookworm favorite "Moon, Moon, Moon" in case you little one likes to learn songs with gestures. Who doesn't?
I hope I have you hooked on Berkner's music, and I hope you and your little grow to love her tunes as much as we do! The Dance Remixes drops on Sept 22.
Summer Contest Winners!
We have a winner! In fact, we have two winners.
For our summer reading contest, GG is our winner. She read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this summer.
Our newsletter subscriber bonus winner is LS. Thank you for sharing our love of books!
Both winners will receive a $25 Gift card to Amazon to buy more books. :D
(Contest was not sponsored by or affiliated with Amazon or Instagram.)
