Saturday, April 19, 2008

monster music!!!

some of my kids favourite books and yes music IS important.



34 comments:

saneshane said...

'the day I swapped my dad for two goldfish' by neil gaiman and dave mckean

oh, the places you'll go! dr.seuss

'igor,the bird who couldn't sing' by satoshi kitamura

'when a zeeder met a xyder' malachy doyle and joel stewart

monsters and music are great!

nilpferd said...

I'll need to check those out, Saneshane.. some of my daughter's favourites..

Tim, ted and the pirates, by Ian Whybrow

"One, two, three, me" and "trauriger Tiger toastet tomaten" by Nadia Budde (a sad tiger toasts tomatoes)

The emperors new clothes and the princess and the pea, Hans Christian Andersen

The cat in the hat, Dr. Seuss

Animal ABC, a scottish alphabet, Susan Rennie

Der Adler, der nicht fliegen wollte Wolf Erlbruch (the eagle, who didn't want to fly)

Italian fables, by Italo Calvino

Blimpy said...

My boy does like "Two Goldfish" and Dr Seuss (esp Wocket In My Pocket" and of course the lovely Charlie and Lola books.

Top post!!

debbym said...

When my Pre-Teen was younger - back in the days when he used to actually LISTEN to me! - we got through a lot of Horrid Henry (Francesca Simon), Allan Ahlberg (especially Burglar Bill and Peepo!) and just about everything by Philip Ardagh. These days I read them for myself; I love children's books!
My Gorgeous Girlie is really into Charlie and Lola, especially "I Am NOT Sleepy and I Will Not Go To Bed" (not that that applies to her at all, oh no.....)

steenbeck said...

Saneshane--great post!! I'm thinking...I'm afraid rather than songs or books some strange movies came to mind...
this , which the beautiful drawing you sent me (the piano) reminded me of. I suggest tracking down any youTube clips you can of this movie, a strange 50s extravaganza made from a Dr. Seuss book.

And Mad Monster Party , which we just got on dvd for our boys. A bit slow, but verrrry interesting. Mr. Steenbeck surmised that it's probably paced for stoned teenagers. A few good songs, though.

Loved loved loved the stories and drawings, will respond more thoughtfully anon.

saneshane said...

'Igor' is written in appreciation of the music of Ornette Coleman how cool is that for a kids book?

Dave Mckeans artwork always makes me just want to give up..can't be bettered. 'the wolves in the walls' is beautiful.

there's a good princess and the pea from L.Child (charlie and lola) author.

I read a lot of Italo Calvino 'cos the brothers Quai designed the book covers at one point..shall look out for the fables.

pirate books are a big hit- tim and ted..read a lot here.

nilpf..got confused when in Germany..my friends said the were feeding the eagle..but it was a hedgehog!. explain please if possible.

Dr.Suess..there was a thumbs and drums book that my son loved..what is it called?

'I'm not sleepy..' I got for Zane so his mum could read it to him...she doesn't find me funny sometimes!!!

steenbeck said...

Hand Hand Fingers Thumb? It's not Dr. Seuss, but it's in his style. Al Perkins. My boys like that too.

Too obvious, perhaps, but I love Where the Wild Things Are. And I like Marc Simont No More Monsters For Me. I like all his drawings that I've seen. He's got a good one about a spider...Wolfie, I think.

saneshane said...

It was just a Dr.Suess imprint not him..thanks for that.
it was read in Zimbabwe with Zanes auntie and an amazing amount of drums to play along with just before he was two.
(it was frightening going there then..can't even contemplate now, what's happening, glad for a good memory)
'There's a monster in my closet' is another good one...I have to point out that pop guns are bad!
But all monsters are good in our house..they are just mis-understood.

steenbeck said...

I love monsters, and I like watching people draw, so the daily monster is very appealing to me. I tried this with Malcolm --spill a splotch of ink or paint and see what he can make out of it. Good times!

ejaydee said...

Aww maaan, now I'm going to have to check out all 187 daily monsters...

ToffeeBoy said...

Lots of favourite children's books both from my own childhood (I'm currently re-reading the sublime Tom's Midnight Garden) and from when the two Miss Toffees were much younger.

Off the top of my head, I can recommend the following:
Little Monster Did It (Helen Cooper)
The Little Boat (Kathy Henderson)
Rosie's Babies (Martin Waddell)

I love almost anything by Martin Waddell but one of his that was regrettably ruined for me is Can't You Sleep Little Bear. For about six months, when she was about 2, no other book would do for the older Miss Toffee and I had to read it two or three times a night. Again, again, again!

nilpferd said...

Saneshane, in German "Igel" is a hedgehog..
Calvino's fairytales are adapted from folktales he heard while trying to produce a collection similar to the Grimms'. They are brilliant, I spent half a year reading them to my daughter.

"the story of the speaking wall"
"the story of the feather"
-my daughter adds two that her mother made up (part of the going to sleep routine).
I'm not tired... and I will never ever eat tomatoes are big hits here too, but I wanted the books quickly and couldn't wait for the english language imprint, so in the Nilpferd household it's Charlie und Pia...

nilpferd said...

We have the L.Child Princess and pea- beautiful book- but perversely my daughter prefers the German language version she bought for 50 cents from the remaindered table...
Another of her Seuss favourites is Green eggs and ham.. and while I was introducing the kids at her kindergarten to english, by far and away their fav. was Do you like ketchup on you cornflakes, a brilliant split page book by Nick Sharrat..

DarceysDad said...

YYESSSS!, GREAT call with Dr.Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go.
Actually brings a lump to my throat every time I read it to either girl.

And whilst I hate The Snowman, it's combination of music and visuals made my train of thought kick into gear: Raymond Briggs' Fungus The Bogeyman has to be a cert for the Final Ten . . . oops, sorry, old habits etc.!

Blimpy said...

Has anyone read "The Story of the little mole who knew if was none of his business" - too funny, and poo-tastic!

nilpferd said...

..thats "der kleinen Maulwurf, der wissen wollte, wer ihm auf dem Kopf gemacht hat.." in the original.. many's the time our living room has reverberated to the sound of goat's droppings or cow pats hitting the turf...

Blimpy said...

hi nilp, yes i noticed that the authors were german, i love the way some of the animals wear glasses, it's too funny. And the variety of poos is fab, are the sounds of the poos dropping different in german?

nilpferd said...

"platsch" - the pigeon
"rumpsdipumps" the horse
"ratatata" the hare
"klackediklack" the goat
"schwuppdiwupp" the cow
"platschdiplumps" the pig

(****drum-roll****)... and the winner is..

"pling" the mole

doing your No. twos is serious business in Deutschland...

saneshane said...

Poo is my sons favourite topic at the moment so will have to invest in that one..he will love it,,might get it in German as well.. the sounds are great!

With 'oh, the places you'll go!' my dad said the boom band was always my fantasy group.. I wonder who has had the most success under that moniker?

off to daily monsters

ToffeeBoy said...

Another author who fits the monsters/childhood fears topic very nicely indeed is Hiawyn Oram. She's written loads of fantastic books but two of hers in particular spring to mind:

Ned And The Joybaloo and In The Attic - both beautifully illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura.

.... said...

Brilliant post and list. Liked in particular Fallacy and Sage Francis and of course the Divine Charlotte. Your list also made me think of The Monsters Hiding Under My Bed by To The Vanishing Point : http://www.deezer.com/track/244980
and Scary Monsters too. Where is Scary these days? Probably doing exams.

Blimpy said...

It seems the sound of a mole pooing is international!

"Pling" is the main one to survive! But those germanic noises are ace! Here's the translation to english:

"splish, plish" - the pigeon
"flump, plump" the horse
"rat-a-tat-tat" the hare
"plippety-plop" the goat
"kersplosh" the cow

Is the butcher's dog called Basil?
"plop, splat" the pig

saneshane said...

fp nice call on vanishing point..
and one I missed out but love is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb1YMQYqcd0
Eugene Mcguinness 'monsters under the bed'
a song and video that I rate highly.(podbean wasn't playing)

In the Attic is fantastic toffeeboy well worth reading 'Igor, the bird who couldn't sing' as well.. any Kitamura illustrated books are usually top class.

hope monsters gets a RR some day, could be a fun one.

steenbeck said...

I was looking for some monstrous inspiration and Mr. Steenbeck directed me to monster brains. Not all for children, certainly, but fascinating.

Blimpy said...

hi dsd - i finally followed up yr recommendation for spongebob squarepant, we're watching the spongebob movie as I type (£3 in hmv) and very funny it is too!

DarceysDad said...

Glad you like it McFlah. I keep trying to get some decent video of my girls jumping around the room to Goofy Goober Rock ...

Current favourite of many good one-liners in the film?
Dennis (to SS): "You got guts, kid. Too bad I gotta rip 'em outta yuh!"
It's wasted on three-year-olds.

Blimpy said...

When the Goofy Goober Rock bit came on , i was thinking "bet DsD loves this part the most"!!

ToffeeBoy said...

Spongebob Squarepants is pure genius from start to finish. And although the film doesn't quite manage to keep up the high standards of the ten minute TV episodes, it does a damn fine job of it.

DsD - I have to disagree that it's "wasted on three-year-olds" - I think it's a very rare example of something that can be equally enjoyed by children and adults. We may appreciate it in different ways but that shouldn't devalue what the little ones get out of it.

Good luck against Chelski tonight (I think)!

DarceysDad said...

Thanks ToffeeBoy.

Footy: It is worrying me that we're at home first leg this time; I've got a horrible feeling Rafa's going to waste the Anfield 12th man by being too cautious about not conceding away goals. Then there's the 'old-boy-back-to-haunt-us' scenario with Anelka.

SpongeBob:
1. Re "wasted on 3yo": I meant Dennis' comment is, the film most definitely isn't. I agree completely about it working for both audiences; it is too rare that the producers of films care that adults will have to sit with the target audience children.
2. Goofy Goober Rock in particular is a phenomenally good piece of animation and writing; there are just SO MANY homage references to rock heroes (or villans! cf Beavis&Butthead lookalikes) in both the visuals and the vocal mannerisms. It is a small shame that the soundtrack version of the song doesn't have Dave Lee Roth's "Hamaleebabaleezeebaleebop" Ain't Got Nobody extract in it that the film does.

Blimpy - yeah, that or maybe the tugboat saloon scene. Altogether now: "All bubble-blowin' babies will be beaten senseless by..."

Blimey, but this thread is making me sound like a terrible parent!!!

ToffeeBoy said...

There are a number of top quality Spongebob Songs - my personal favourite is "Ripped My Pants" - an excellent Beach Boys pastiche.

And then there's the Flaming Lips song 'Spongebob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy' from the soundtrack to the film.

treefrogdemon said...

I got the mole & poo book for my grandson...stony silence from his mum and dad. I think it disrupted the potty-training a bit.

Blimpy said...

@tfd - awesome stuff!

kids enjoy poo, that's always been the policy in our house - hooray for poos!

treefrogdemon said...

Oh, yes, us too - it was just a difficult time for them. They have friends with slightly older children who were telling them horror stories...

steenbeck said...

Well, I have a five-year-old boy, and I'm wondering, when does it get better? He talks a lot (non-stop) anyway, but lately he can't NOT say "butt." And recently, his cousins taught him "butt-wipe." Seriously, he HAS to say it. (I was thinking of looking up tourrettes online). But we came to a compromise, of sorts, he can say "butt-wipe" as much as he wants to, but it has to be followed or preceded by "President Bush." He's fine with that.