Recommended Reading, Inspired by Apple Brains.

Be sure to read my interview with Apple Brains here.

But perhaps you are feeling inspired to help your children (of all ages) learn more about the food they eat, food preparation, and eating healthy.  Here are some books to help!

First, for adults, I highly recommend the book Apple Brains mention in the interview: The Fruit Hunters by Adam Leith Gollner is a fun and informative read.  I need to mention again, THIS IS FOR ADULTS ONLY.  Fruits, as it turns out, are quite sexy.

For the littlest babies, try:
Fruit by Sara Anderson
and of course the incomparable the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

For toddlers, try:
Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
and Rah, Rah, Radishes! by April Pulley Sayre

For preschoolers and early-school aged children, try:
How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? By Chris Butterworth
and Apples, Cherries, Red Raspberries by  Brian P. Cleary

As I said at the end of the interview, Apple Brains Video coming soon.  Also, a video of my wee Brussel Sprout rocking out to the music.

Interview: Apple Brains

Mrs. O:  Congratulations on your wonderful album and the great reviews it has received! Tell me, how long have you been performing?  And did you play an instrument as a child?

Apple Brains:  I've been making music my whole life.  I started with piano lessons at age five, then played oboe in the school band, and also started playing guitar at around ten or eleven.  Drums came next when I was fifteen or so.  I suppose I've never stuck to one instrument and really tried to master it, but instead am most interested in song writing, and try to develop the skills necessary to experiment with different instruments.  I've played in lots of rock and roll bands, and Apple Brains has been performing for about 3 years, with varying intensity.

Mrs. O: That’s so funny.  I played the oboe as a child too.  What a funny coincidence!  So, I have read that you were a "Nutrition Musician" for the LA school system.  How did that come to be?

Apple Brains: That was a serendipitous thing.  I had a roommate at the time who worked in nutrition, for a federal program called Nutrition Network (now known as Network for a Healthy California), and they were looking to diversify their approach to education with kids.  He told me they were looking for a musician. I had never done children's music at the time, but a lot of my solo music was very playful, and along with my personality it really just made sense.  So I altered some songs I had to make them about nutrition, went in for an audition, and got the job. Once in the door the pressure was on to write songs fast, so that's how I started developing what became Apple Brains. 

Mrs. O:  My daughter's favorite song is "Apple x3" - it must really get the crowd going at concerts!  Not to focus on the negative, because the deliciousness of an apple cannot be questioned, but I wonder, as you make reference in the song:  Have you ever gotten an apple with worms?

Apple Brains: I have gotten an apple with a worm!  Well, at least with what was a worm....  I've bitten into apples that have rotting worm holes that seem too gross to just be apple...  yuck!

Mrs. O:  My two favorites are "Water - the loveliest beverage" and "Frutero."  How did you come to that wonderful association with water?  After a nice cold glass of it, or gazing out upon the lakes of Vermont?  And for Frutero, you have incorporated an awesome, Latin influence, what other musical influences feature strongly on this album?

Apple Brains: Water really is the loveliest beverage!  I'm one of those people that loves ice cold water.  I'm always shocked to meet people who only like their water room temperature!  Also I think a part of my very real craving for fruit is its high water content.   You can just feel how needed that hydration is, and water just does it the best.  No need for any fancy packaged Water 2.0 beverages.  Water 1.0 is the loveliest of all!

As for musical influences, I'd have to say Sesame Street above everything else.  I love the arrangements of those songs, how playful they are in sound and content. The characters and voices are awesome.  Plus the musical style is more my speed.  It's 'acoustic' essentially.. I guess what i mean by that is not electronic as in drum machines etc., which is where so much kids music is nowadays.  I love electronic music, but it's not where my strength lies in what I'm gonna offer. Also they also don't dumb things down for kids.  I think that can be fine, and can be great for real specific educational lessons, but I also love a children's song that's more complex.  Kids can go there, we all know that.  I'm sure that's a conversation that comes up a lot with children's literature too.

Mrs. O:  Oh, I completely agree!  I love that Sesame Street (and you) do not dumb things down for children.  And the children’s literature that I enjoy the most also encourages children of all ages to learn new things by challenging them.   On that topic, this blog is primarily about books, so I was intrigued to read that The Fruit Hunters by Adam Leith Gollner was an influence.  What song did that book inspire?  What other things inspire you to write these songs?

Apple Brains: The Fruit Hunters inspired 'Ba-na-nas', which is a song about the astounding diversity of fruit all around the world, using bananas as an example.  Bananas are a staple fruit here in the US, but they don't grow here. The song asks the question, "what other fruits may there be out there that we don't know about because they aren't part of the global commercial fruit industry?"  It's a celebration of that diversity and a call for exploration.  Adam Leith Gollner's book uses fruit to celebrate those concepts as well.  It's a REALLY fun read, and will make you itch to go out and try all the fruits you can find!  He also expresses the magic of fruit; The wonderful sensuousness of its shapes, colors, flavors; all the ways fruit intrigues and captivates the imagination the world over.  I want to give kids this sense of wonder too.  It's one way of opening the artistic eye.  "Have you ever REALLY looked at a pomegranate? Have you ever eaten it slowly and REALLY experienced it's flavor?" 

Mrs. O: Okay, I just got that book at the library, now I cannot wait to “peel” into it!  (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)  We just got back from Kenya, and I was shocked to realize I didn’t know what a banana tree looks like!  Also, the bananas there are tiny, like one or two bites – one or two sweet delectable bites!  Now I will be looking out on our next trip for more indigenous fruits and I’ll report back!  Oh and speaking of pomegranates, there is nothing that makes me think of California more than a heavily-laden pomegranate tree!   Quick cautionary tale: Never try to feed a horse pomegranate seeds!

Mrs. O:  When you are in LA, what fruits and vegetables do you miss about Vermont?

Apple Brains: I miss the fresh apples and blueberries that you find at the local farm stand or in your own backyard or on a bush behind CVS!

Mrs. O:  I thought you might miss the fresh, seasonal fruits of the northeast – they are some of the best non-commercialized examples of fruit in our country.   I love visiting farmer’s markets while on vacation to remember what produce tasted like during my childhood.  Tell me, what is next for Apple Brains?  When does the Futero video come out and where can we see it?  And is there another album in the works?

Apple Brains: Apple Brains is getting busy playing a new slew of shows in 2012 in and around LA.  We will be recording a new album this summer, which will be very exciting.  I'm really looking forward to diving deep into the creation of that and seeing what comes out.  Anything could happen!  As for the Frutero video, it will be done within the month of February for sure.  We are actually running a Kickstarter campaign to help with funding, so please if you can check that out to get a taste of the video and help us financially to bring it to light.  I'm working on developing another video full of elementary school kids, so fingers crossed that that will work out as well.  The Frutero video will be on my website, facebook, youtube, vimeo, pretty much everywhere we can put it!  You can stay informed by liking Apple Brains on facebook (www.facebook.com/applebrains) as well as checking in at my website. Thanks so much and have a delicious day!

Mrs. O:                 You can find Apple Brains current album at:

  http://stickyguyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/apple-brains-get-fruity-lp

Or check out their website at:  www.applebrainsmusic.com

Or visit them on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/applebrains

I'll post a link to the new video when it's available.  And maybe one of my own in the meantime!

New Feature: Toddler Performance Art/Book Art

Taken from It's A Little Book by Lane Smith

What's Wrong With My Hair? By Satoshi Kitamura

The Politics of Hair - the subject of many books: children's books, beauty books, adult books, empowerment books, blogs, reality shows, and magazines.  We spend BILLIONS of dollars a year at the salon.  Hair-care products account for our largest non-food expenditures at the grocery store.

And yet, our hair is the single most uncontrollable part of ourselves.  We are born with it, it changes color, texture, length, and style throughout our lives, and we are obsessed with controlling it.  Strangers comment on it.  We poke and prod our children to mold them into some vision of what we want them to be.

I hate it.

So I am often wary of children's literature that addresses hair as a subject.  Do we project our obsession onto our children too early?  These are things I  worry about.

But I have been thinking about themes for this blog, and the other day I happened across this book: What's Wrong With My Hair by Satoshi Kitamura.  Its main character is a Lion, so I was thinking of a Lion Theme.  Instead, I found a lovely adventure, sweet illustrations and a surprise ending!  How fun!

Let me go ahead and ruin the surprise by telling you what it says on the front cover.  There is a little circle that reads "Buy the Hole, get the Whole Book for Free!"

Confused?  Let's use a pictorial explanation - a break from this wordy post - 

What a fun book.  

Books to discuss feelings

I'm in a bad mood today.  I'm not feeling great.  My family visit just ended.  And I feel like the catch-up game of motherhood is a bit relentless right now.

So while you talk among yourselves, here are some books to read to your children that help get a handle on these precarious whims we call feelings.

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton

 Duck and Goose, How Are You Feeling?  By Tad Hills

 Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Refresh your Night Routine - Bedtime Books

There are four bedtime books that never leave our bookshelves:
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish by Lorie Ann Grover
I'll See You in the Morning by Mike Jolley and
Lullabies by Usborne Books

The reason they never leave the shelves is because we both have them committed to memory.  Each night we turn off the lights and recite them, culminating in singing the lullabies.  It is a soothing routine and sometimes she is asleep before the end of the second book.  On the rare times when she is not asleep by the last lullaby, I know something is amiss.

Some days you need a routine before your routine.  Or a backup routine.  So I always look for some good books to fill in those needs.

My new favorite is Yawn by Sally Symes.

 I love that a children's book attacks the subject of extreme contagions, like yawns.  It starts with a baby, running uncontrolled through a cast of very cute animal friends, and SPOILER ALERT ends with all of them snuggling  fast asleep in bed.  It can change a bouncy, high-on-speed-seeming toddler into a yawning, cuddly squish-fest.


For older children, I really like When I Woke Up I Was A Hippopotamus by Tom MacRae

An active child has an active day, pissing just about everyone off in the process.  But he is reasonable, makes amends, and learns from his mistake.  This book would be an awesome tool for diffusing an active and imaginative child close to bed.  My girl loves it.

When all else fails, we sing a song that I used to sing when she was a very small infant.  It basically is "Sleep Baby" over and over again.  Someday, when that fails, I'll be buying a copy of Go the F@k to Sleep!

Variations on a Theme: Elephants

Recently themes keep emerging in my mind - books about animals, books about school, books about emotions, books about transportation.  So I thought perhaps I should do some posts about these themes as they emerge.

So let's begin with our sweet, not-so-little, pachyderm friend, the elephant.

Whenever you are talking about animals, I immediately think of the wonderful Let's Go to the Zoo series from the Smithsonian.  They have one called Elephant and Mommy, in which the elephants romp about, eat, get clean, and other lovely everyday elephant activities.  It's cute, it's photographic which I like for babies who seem to sometimes get confused by illustration styles, and they are very simple.

But recently our local library did a special section featuring elephants.  We have now read so many cute books for toddler/preschool aged children about elephants!

My daughter and husband after only a few days with a particular elephant book have started a daily call-and-response about a small elephant named Kai-Mook.

It's got nice onomatopoeia, a sweet story, and I think is meant to be a gift book, but it is quite fun.  There is one very odd illustration where the monkey in the story has grabbed the baby elephant's bottom.  I probably read the book 5 times before I noticed it, but now I keep thinking "uhhhhhh, what the ????"

Another sweet story about a small elephant is Kidogo.  Kidogo means little or "a little bit" in Swahili.  In the story the elephant goes on a quest to find an animal smaller than he is.  It has a nice empowering theme, it has a very sweet ending, and for every way that Kai Mook seems a bit bratty, Kidogo seems sweet!

Of course there are other wonderful books about elephants too... the Dr. Seuss classic, Horton Hears a Who, the Elephant and Piggie series by my pal Mo Willems, and for you adults... Water for Elephants wasn't too bad either (although I wasn't a fan of the ending).

Go forth, swing your trunk, trumpet your voice, and enjoy some books with your wee one about these not-so-wee friends.

Stay tuned for more themes!