The Cow Book

So, it is well-known amongst the Kindermusik crowd that children love books about cows. The kids routinely ask for "The Cow Book" (Look Who's Talking on the Farm, by Danny Tepper, below, not to be confused with Cock-a-Doodle-MOO!, above, which is also about farm animals).

Other favorites include "The Pink Book" (Shiny Dinah), "The Train Book" (also Shiny Dinah), "The French Book" (Le ventre de la bête), and "The Boat Book" (confusing because we have a lot of boat books, and I never know which one the kids are asking for). The children never ask for "The Cricket Book," but since they always seem to find it riveting, I assume that they are simply hoping that I will be smart enough to interpret their silence as a request for The Very Quiet Cricket...or maybe "cricket" is just harder to say than "cow," "pink," "train," or "boat".

Why read in a music class? Well, I don't want to give away any Kindermusik trade secrets, but most people probably innately realize that music and literature have a lot in common. Both art forms involve expression, phrasing, cadences, and structure. From a young age, children sing the alphabet to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle," and reading music requires one to be familiar with the fundamentals of reading language. I guess that's why story time is so often our favorite part of class. Visit this site to learn more about reading to your child at home -- the most important learning environment of all!