Product Description

Remember...

"Take Me Out to the

Ballgame"

and

"I've Been Working on the

Railroad"?

Well, forget 'em!

Songwriter and comedy writer extraordinaire Alan Katz has turned those and other old favorites on their ears and created new nonsense songs kids will love. With zany, spirited pictures by illustrator and cartoonist David Catrow, this kooky collection guarantees laughs and plenty of silly dillyness for kids everywhere!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72119 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-01
• Released on: 2001-04-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780689829031
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Songwriter and television comedy writer Katz provides ludicrous lyrics to 14 traditional tunes, offering playful parodies on some familiar routines. To the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," a boy wearing roller skates claims he has been soaking so long in the tub that he "used one, two, three bars of soap/ Take me out... I'm clean!" Other amusing entries include "I've Been Cleaning Up My Bedroom" (sung to "I've Been Working on the Railroad"), in which a girl tidies her room by shoving all of her belongings "out the door," which Catrow (She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!) interprets quite literally (he shows her bureau, goldfish, etc., piling up in the back yard), and "Give Me a Break" (sung to the tune of "Home on the Range"), introducing a child whose library book is long overdue. A few songs do not scan so well (e.g., this verse set to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean": "My brother flicks peas with his fork and/ They zip down my shirt with a splat/ Next I see a big piece of pork land/ On my head like it's a new hat!"). But the subjects (a sibling with a stinky diaper, a youngster who refuses to go to bed, a cranky poodle think "Yankee Doodle") teamed with Catrow's outlandish illustrations, as hyperbolic as the words, will have kids giggling as they sing. Ages 2-6.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-This hilarious collection goes straight to the heart of playground humor. What made "On Top of Spaghetti" such an integral part of popular culture is what makes these selections so equally successful. Well-known songs like "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad" become-with a wink, a poke, and nod-"Take Me Out of the Bathtub," "The Yogurt Flies Straight from My Brother," and "I've Been Cleaning Up My Bedroom." Some of these transformations are so clever that kids will want to burst into song immediately. Imagine your next patron singing, "Oh give me a break/`Cause I made a mistake/And my library book's overdue" to the tune of "Home on the Range." The watercolor illustrations are equally entertaining, with exaggerated features and situations giving them a cartoon look. "Go Go Go to Bed" depicts an exhausted mom slumped in a chair with toys and a child literally bouncing off the ceiling above her. There's something here to tickle most funny bones.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3-6. Katz, a comedy writer who has worked on children's programming for Disney and Nickelodeon has created his own "silly dilly" versions of beloved childhood tunes. Kids will rejoice in the hilarious, "I'm Filthy, I'm Dirty," sung to the tune of "It's Raining, It's Pouring," and parents have songs to celebrate, too: "Go Go Go to Bed" is a clever remake of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." With the possible exception of the lesser-known "Polly, Put the Kettle On," most children will be familiar with the original versions of these songs, which will make it easy for them to join right in. Catrow's animated double-spread pictures are at least as silly as the song lyrics, offering action-filled scenes bursting with odd-looking creatures. For an easy enrichment activity, have kids create a silly-dilly adaptation of their own. Lauren Peterson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Lots and lots of fun!!!!
What a fun book! My son is 11 months old, and I've been singing to him since he was an infant, usually made-up songs. When I saw this book I thought it would give us a whole new batch of songs to sing, and it HAS!!! My baby loves these, and when I sing them to him he just laughs and laughs, and I laugh - I can't help it. They are hysterical!

...Some of the images are gross in a harmless way (a food fight, a dirty bedroom) but the songs are very appropriate for small children, and lots of fun for the Mama and Daddy singing them, too. My husband says he found himself singing "Brother Mitch" the other day at work!!!

This book is terrific. If you have a sense of humor, and you sing to your babies, this makes a good addition to your book collection.

The humor won't be to everyone's taste but we loved it.
I bought this for one reason - to share with my youngest son and to show him that even the most favorite tunes can be turned inside out and upside down, lending a new perspective to the familiar.
And yes, as some other reviewers have noted, the humor is of the "gross-out" variety...but let's face it...life is sometimes a bit weird. And who knows this better than kids? So while the original nursery rhymes were mostly full of charm and a light spirit, these may be truer to the truth that kids see in the world. And once you sing Take me Out of the Bathtub to the tune of Take me Out to the Ball Game, you may never be able to get the new lyrics out of your head:
"Take me out of the bathtub
Take me out of the tub
I've been soaking since half past two
I feel so sudsy and wrinkle-y too..."

I'll never sing another kids' song the same way again
The illustrations are fantastic. The lyrics are even better. What more can I say? It really is a great book and my daughter loves it. I'd like to see a CD with these songs (and more); the accompanying sound track would be hilarious. If you like to sing to your kids and have a great sense of humor, make sure this is on your list of books to buy.