Rating: 
Summary: Every Night's Bedtime Favorite!
Review: This is a wonderful book for children and adults. The accompaning CD is entertaining and the book's wonderful illustrations are delightful and make for a fun bedtime story. My seven year old loves to follow along with the CD and it has become an instant favorite at our house!
Rating:
Summary: My son and I are in love with this book/CD
Review: We just saw TMBG at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. They are nothing less than brilliant. And this book/CD is just lovely. Highly recommended. (For other great children's lit recommendations, see Esme Raji Codell's How to Get Your Child to Love Reading. Esme is to children's literature what TMBG is to children's music--extremely fun, intelligent, and hip.) Buy this and How to Get Your Child to Love Reading for the families and teachers who you know, and you'll have one happy holiday.
Rating: 
Summary: Is It A Good Bedtime Tool For Kids?
Review: YES, ANOTHER THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS FAN AM I who bought this 48 page book, accompanied by a 4-song CD, intended for children; however, it's just as hot in hands of adults who appreciate the cleverness, vitality, and care that this band has been producing for over twenty years. Therefore, it's not a question of whether or not this 5-star TMBG project will please us fans. It boils down to "Is it truly a good bedtime tool?" to help your children into slumber. As a kids' book, I give it 4 stars. We'll see what you think. First of all, based on the disappointment I felt upon receiving this package in the mail, I would disagree that it's a book of stories. I'd been lead to believe that it was. BED, BED, BED contains no stories, no more than you'd find in any song. It's a hardbound collection of read-along lyrics set to Marcel Ozama's energized artwork. Still, once the disappointment faded--and it faded fast--I saw the light. This is a wonderful product. But let's keep things in perspective. The "Note for You" on page 1 tells us, "We have sequenced the stories to help parents and kids find their way to slumberland." In my opinion (maybe I'm wrong), the songs should have been organized in descending order, bouncy-fun to mellow-drowsy The second song, "Happy Doesn't Have to Have and Ending," is slightly more rockin' than the first song, "Impossible." Their order is not conducive to the gradual fading into sleep we were promised. The last couple of songs are debatable. I feel the CD could have ended with the song "Idlewild," musically, instead of "Bed, Bed, Bed, Bed, Bed." B.B.B.B.B. calls too much attention to the lyrics. Lyrically, however, if this weren't about inducing sleep, I'd have kept the order as presented. I realize this matter of order is up to the listener. I just thought I should let you know. The songs themselves are typical of They Might Be Giants. One or two will get your rhythm meter swinging right away, and, after you've listened to the whole CD, you'll find that you love all four songs. The messages, as I translate them, are child-friendly: 1.Don't worry about the limits others place on you. You can grow up to be anyone you imagine yourself to be.
2.The secret to life just might be to make room for fun and happiness.
3.Take a trip into fantasy.
4.Look at everything you did today! You've had a productive twenty-four hourse. The only thing left is to go to bed, the importance of which should not be overlooked. The neat thing about They Might Be Giants is that their studio albums appeal to children as well as adults. It's no wonder they aimed two CD's exclusively at children. In both BED, BED, BED and their successful kids' album NO!, however, I sometimes felt that the songs weren't perfectly suited for the very young. Again, maybe I'm wrong. I'm not an educator. In BED, BED, BED, for instance, particularly in the song "Happy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending," words are used that might not fit into your child's repertoire. The word "Gavotte" is used, as well as "moderately." Children aren't idiots, of course, but these words could soar over their heads. (In the Giant's defense, they define "Gavotte" using apt lyrics.) Also, the phrase "long-haired hippie kitten" is questionable, the "hippie" part. I'm not about to say it's wrong, but it does isolate a passé social class. I feel we should avoid using such terms when providing our children with entertainment. In a sick world, it could become a short journey from "hippie" to "Mexican" to "ni**er." Despite that, "hippie" is a mostly harmless word, I know. I'm just saying we should avoid terms that come ready-replete with (possible) negative connotations. I'm not normally a crusader against labels. But we're talking about a children's album here. I've nothing else "bad" to say about this product. Man, I had to listen to it four times in a row. HAD TO. As an adult, I loved it. The message of the song "Possibly" made me misty--which I tend to get over perfectly realized messages of good will. The kitten in the "Happy" song also had an emotional effect on me. . .though, I might point out, he's referred to as a long-haired kitten, and the pictures paint him in short brown fur. Okay, I lied. So there's a couple more things to say that are not so positive: 1) the short-hair/long-hair issue that I just mentioned and 2) pages 31 to 40. In pages 31-40 we receive a string of short lyrics, one line per page. This is supposed to be a read-along book, right? I found that I had to turn pages pretty darn fast in order to keep up with the CD. Frantic page-turning during the last song will surely jostle your child from his or her near slumber. There. No more bad stuff. I, an eternal Giants fan, have tried to review this book without bias. Ah, but, in the end, counting pros and cons won't render a just verdict. BED, BED, BED is a wonderful purchase. You're kids are going to love it. I dare you to feel differently.
| 
