Christmas Carols For A Kids Heart (Focus on the Family)

Rating:
Summary: A really nice book, CD is not so great
Review: I was pleased to find this book, and we are happy to include it as a part of our family holiday devotions. There are 12 songs, so we read and sing one a night. I especially like the section that explains the meaning of some of the phrases a child might have trouble understanding, such as "born to raise the sons of earth" from "Hark The Herald Angels Sing". In fact, a lot of adults could stand to read this book, too!

It loses stars on the CD. The kids sing well in tune (which is sadly refreshing for today's day and age), but quite frankly their tone quality, while also sadly better than most of today's CDs, is lacking and it's due in large part to their poor vowel pronuciation. Children can be taught to sing better than that. I get a little weary of people who market CDs with so-so children's choirs when there are better ones out there.

The adult women's voices are not really to my taste (which I understand is just a matter of personal preference), and the arrangements sometimes lean toward the goofily dramatic. My husband and I can't listen to the first cut on the CD with a straight face for that reason.

All told, I would have rather just bought the book and paid less. I prefer for my children to have better vocal models to listen to. We can sing the songs ourselves, anyway.