The Flute Player Michael Lacapa ISBN 0-97358-627-1
This is a bittersweet tale about two Apache sweethearts that ends in
sadness and mystery. I have read this story to my students in the
1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades and in each class they have taken away something,
even if unspoken (many times they will simply walk back to their seats
silently, thinking about what they've heard and seen). Many of my
students (in all three of the grade levels have noticed the repetition
of phrases and the cyclical/circular nature of the story. And, every
class I've read it to has requested it be read again.
The
Flute Player/La Flautista
Robyn Eversole ISBN 0-531-09469-3
This story, originally written in Spanish, tells of a flute player who can no longer play her songs of nature because her flute will no longer sound. As she is taking it to be repaired, she shows a young girl her instrument and allows her to play it resulting in a kaleidoscope of activity which pleasantly shows the soothing power of music. This book is a bilingual edition (English and Spanish) and is a wonderful story! For 2 years, whenever I read "The Flute Player" (see the previous entry), one of my teachers used to tell me that she had heard another story by the same name and wished she could find the book...when I first saw this book by the same name and read it I knew why.
Folk
Rhymes from Around the World
Evelyn Neaman ISBN 0-88865-081-7
This is a really neat book. The editor, Evelyn Neaman, has collected
folk rhymes from around the world and put them into this book. There
are a couple of honest to goodness songs (which is always a good thing
in music class), but I think the thing that I like the best is that the
rhymes from other countries include the original texts, be they in Russian,
German, Korean or Arabic. The language's text is presented, as well
as an English equivalent for pronunciation and a brief description of the
language. The rhymes a broken down into sections (games, tongue twisters,
skipping, etc.), and I've actually heard a student or two trying some of
these on their own on the playground.
The
Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night
Peter Spier
ISBN 0-440-40829-6
This is a great book that has actually dovetailed nicely with my school's
3rd grade curriculum. This old folk song, as illustrated
by Peter Spier, tells the tale of a fox that goes out and gets some food
for his family in the form of a goose from the Farmer John. Now,
while the book isn't exactly similar, it's close enough that my students
who are currently reading the Fantastic
Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl really enjoy it...and even start humming the
tune while reading the book (or, so I'm told by some of my fellow teachers).
So, if you want to find some music to go with that particular book, or
if you just like old folk songs, then this could be a good book for you.