Sing Books with Emily, the Blog

 
The Gift of Make-Believe (Read and Sing Along Lyric Book)
Words by Various Artists
Tunes by Ginger Sands and Various Artists
Illustrations derived from published works of Various Artists

This is a fantastic set of poems, songs and illustrations put together by a wonderful performer Ginger Sands.  Many of the poems are children’s classics and have no other musical settings.  Sands’ original settings are all musical, fun to sing, and written in keys for comfortable singing.  The CD comes with vocal and instrumental tracks.  You can listen to Ginger sing the sings (her vocals are great) or you can sing the poems yourself.

In the “Read and Sing Along Lyric Book” the lyrics for the poems are printed along with terrific illustrations, some derived from vintage children’s publications like “Poems of Early Childhood, Volume 1″ of Childcraft and “The Tall Book of Make-Believe,” some more recent illustrations.

Many of the poems can be found in their own books or published in other  poetry collections.  I will list the songs on “The Gift of Make-Believe” below, and as I write posts about Singable Picture Book versions each of the poems, I will link the title below to that post.  If a link has been made, the title will be blue.  You can click on the blue title, which will link you to the post about that poem, the musical setting and Singable Picture Book.

Poems set to music in “The Gift of Make Believe,” with vocal and instrumental tracks are:

“Moon Song”
(Poem by Mildred Plew Meigs, Illustrated by Garth Williams from “The Tall Book of Make-Believe,“ Music by Ginger Sands)

“A Fairy Went A-Marketing” 
(Poem by Rose Fyleman, Illustrated by Meg Wahlberg from “Poems of Early Childhood”, Vol 1 of Childcraft 1949, Music by Ginger Sands)

“The Duel”
(Poem by Eugene Field, Illustrated by Roger Dubbins from “Poems of Early Childhood, Vol 1″ of Childcraft 1949, Music by Ginger Sands)

“The Land of Counterpane“
(Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Garth Williams from “The Tall Book of Make-Believe,” Music by Ginger Sands)

“The Unicorn“
(Poem and music by Shel Silverstein, Arrangement based on 1968 recording by The Irish Rovers, Illustrated by Goeff Brittingham)

“The Lollipop Tree“ (Words and Music by Joseph Darion and George Kleinsinger, Illustrated by Milo Winter)

“The Little Elf“
(Poem by John Kendrick Bangs,  Illustrated by Garth Williams from “The Tall Book of Make-Believe,” Music by Ginger Sands)

“The Fairies“
(Poem by Rose Fyleman, Illustrated by Goeff Brittingham, Music by Ginger Sands)

“Wynken, Blynken and Nod”
(Poem by Eugene Field, Illustrated by Garth Williams from “The Tall Book of Make-Believe,” Music by Lucy Simon)

“Over the Rainbow” 
(Words and Music by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, Illustrated by Sue Piozet)

The vocal and instrumental tracks are available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Gift-of-Make-Believe/dp/B0019VU8QU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1267562676&sr=8-4)

Learn more about Ginger Sands at her website: http://www.gingersands.com/home.html