Sing Books with Emily, the Blog

I was thrilled to discover this one:

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It’s a Small World
Words and Music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Illustrated by Joey Chou

ELEG Book Review 10/7/2011
I adore this book.  The colors are so beautiful, rich and vivid.  Joey Chou’s illustrations are like a Wonderland version of a Pantone swatch book.  His stacking geometrick shapes and cute round-headed children dressed in the ceremonial outfits of their native countries pay a well-deserved tribute to the song’s original artis Mary Blair.  I love the chance to read all the song’s words and hear the complete musical score by brother songwriting team Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.  So often, the song’s chorus makes a sound loop in our heads, we don’t ever get to know the full text of the song which is surely worth knowing!

Brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman wrote this song especailly for the Walt Disney exhibit in the 1964 World’s Fair.

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Interesting wiki article about the song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It’s_a_Small_World

Page for “It’s a Small World” in the National Institute of Environmental Health Services”http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/small_worldmid.htm

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Terrific Blog post about Mary Blair’s artwork and design for the famous “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland:
http://theinvisibleagent.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/operation-disneland-3-designing-disney-mary-blair-its-a-small-word/

Here are a few of Mary Blair’s sketches for the ride:

The song, one of the best known and most translated songs in the world, is hard to imagine without the visual images created by Mary Blair.

Link to a websites about Mary Blair:

Magic of Mary Blair:
http://magicofmaryblair.com/home

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Blair

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For singing-along, here’s a suggestion:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SH90F6/ref=dm_ty_trk?ie=UTF8&qid=1317995631&sr=8-11

This is a nicely orchestrated sing-along track.  The song is arranged differently in the track than in the book, so singing with this track requires a little page turning acrobatics.  These turns might seem complicated at first, but with a couple practice runs, it becomes fun and easy.

You will need to begin by using post-its or some kind of stick-on flag to mark two pages in the book.  First put a sticky flag on the first page of the song lyrics, the pink toned page with the lyrics “It’s a world of laughter.”  Second, put a sticky flag on the second to last page of the song with kids sitting in a tree, with the lyric “It’s a small.”

Now, here are the song lyrics with page turn suggestions in (parentheses).  If no page turn suggestions are marked, just turn the pages with the progression of lryics through the music:

IT’S A SMALL WORLD
Words and Music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

It’s a world of laughter,
A world of tears.
It’s a world of hopes,
And a world of fears.
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware,
It’s a small world, after all.

(Here, stay on this page, the one with the boat, band, and city background, for the full chorus, repeating the lyric “It’s a small world after, all” 3 more times, since the repeats are not printed in the book, then turn the page for “It’s a small, small world” and continue singing…)

It’s a small world.

There is just one moon
And one golden sun,
And a smile means
Friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide,
It’s a small world, after all.

(Here, there is no chorus, so immedately grasp the sticky flags stuck to the first page, turn to it, and start singing again at the top of the song…)

It’s a world of laughter,
A world of tears.
It’s a world of hopes,
And a world of fears.
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware,

(Here, is the beginning of the second chorus, so immedately grasp the sticky flags stuck to the last page, turn to it, and start singing the chorus…)

It’s a small world, after all.
It’s a small world, after all.
It’s a small world, after all.

(Last, turn to the very last page so kids can see the last beautiful illustration, though no words are printed on this page, and sing the last line of the song…)

It’s a small, small world.

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Illustrator Joey Chou’s website:
http://www.joeyart.com/

Nucleus Gallery (Alhambra, CA) Exhibit Page for this book and artwork inspired by the song:

http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/326

Plus, the gallery has written lots of great posts about the artists and artwork (and available prints) that were available at the show:
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/blog

This must have been a fun show to see.  Artists submitted works inspired by the song.  This webpage includes a couple of the images, but a whole roster of artist links where you can view images of the artwork on the artist’s own sites.

The list of names and links in this website is one of those things that gives one a “tip of the iceberg” kind of glimpse into the creative world of humanity.  This kind of thing is rarely highlighted in the news, but we humans are gorgeously creative in fabulous ,wonderful ways.  This sort of thing deserves much more notice.

Maybe if we concentrated more on THE ARTS, humanity would do a lot better.  It can all start with something simple like singing a Singable Picture Book to a kid.

I THINK SINGABLE PICTURE BOOKS MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE!

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This video highlights the countries visitied to the tune “It’s a Small World” in Disney’s ride, designed by Mary Blair, in the 1964 World’s Fair

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Google’s Doodle today celebrates Mary Blair’s 100th birthday on 10/21/2011

An article in Washington Post about the doodle:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/mary-blair-doodle-google-celebrates-disney-artist-with-tribute-art/2011/10/21/gIQAr2Qc2L_blog.html

This is a “Sing Books” subject because a wonderful picture book of “It’s a Small World” was just published:

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It’s a Small World
Words and Music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Illustrated by Joey Chou

Her artwork was highly influential in the world of Disney.  Her style can be seen in a number of Disney animated movies, including ALICE IN WONDERLAND and PETER PAN.  She also designed the iconic “It’s a Small World” ride for Disney.  You can see in the illustrations of the new book that Joey Chou used Mary Blair’s style as inspiration for his fantastic pictures.

Click here for a great website about Mary Blair:
http://magicofmaryblair.com/home

This is my favorite page, a gallery to view her artwork:
http://magicofmaryblair.com/mary-gallery.htm

Happy Birthday Mary Blair!

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Other Singable Picture Books from Mary Blair

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I Can Fly
Text by Ruth Krauss
Lyrics by Hilda Marx
Music by Alec Wilder
Illustrated by Mary Blair

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Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney’s)
Original Story by Lewis Carroll
Retold by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated with Art by Mary Blair

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Related Articles

THE SINGABLE PICTURE BOOKS OF THE SHERMAN BROTHERS

IT’S A SMALL WORLD
This set is unabashedly Pollyanna!  Sing these songs about caring for others, fostering peace, and making the world a better place.
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/sbwe-singable-picture-book-set-its-a-small-world/