Miss Nina has a very large fan base of toddlers on the UWS – Many of her toddler groupies attend her live performances at various locations around the City and the lucky ones even get her to debut at their birthday bashes where she is always the life of the party.  My DD is one of Miss Nina’s biggest fans, after taking her Small Wonders class at Woodside Preschool three semesters in a row!! It was clear that Miss Nina has a special understanding when it comes to children and entertainment.  My DD never tires of her Miss Nina CD and it is the only thing that keeps her happy in the car when we are on road trips.

On her 2010 award-winning CD “Singing & Dancing Together”, Nina recorded the book This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt.  She has several other  ”book songs” and she was kind enough to put together a “Ten Great Books for Young Children” (and two Honorable Mentions!) list for us.

You can find videos of many of these songs on YouTube.)

1. Brown Bear, Brown BearWhat Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. & Eric Carle

The simple question, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?” leads to a page-turning animal identification adventure.  A revolutionary plot?  No, but a great one for learning about animals and colors, with plenty of room for those who might like to improvise some animal noises!  Will it get repetitive and boring?  For an adult, sure.  But a child learns to “read” simple, easy-to-memorize books like Brown Bear quickly, delivering a great boost to the self-esteem in the process.  (If you get bored with the same old version of Brown Bear, check out my new version, “The Brown Bear Rap”, right HERE.)

2.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

The term ‘timeless classic” was basically invented for Goodnight Moon.  Simple, easy language that will have them “reading” along with mommy in no time, Goodnight Moon is the perfect story to add to the evening ritual.  Its as soothing and quiet way to wind down the day. (This book was the first one that inspired me to write a song based around a children’s book–it’s the perfect lullaby, the lyrics leapt right off of the page. You can view my take on the song HERE.  I’m currently trying to get legal permission to record the song for my next album.)

3.  Llama Llama Red Pajama (and the Llama series) by Anna Dewdne 

Oh, that Llama!  If you haven’t yet read any of the Llama Llama books, well, it is time that you did.  Author/Illustrator Anna Dewdney not only has first hand experience playing the “Mama”, she comes bearing a fantastic talent for capturing a child’s emotions and range of expression in her illustrations of little Llama.  Llama Llama Red Pajama was the first in the hit series, focusing on the tale of a little baby Llama who should be going to sleep, but can’t help feeling a little scared.  It’s an excellent book when it comes time to explain to your children that mommies and daddies will always come back, but that  sometimes–every once in a while–little Llama’s need to be patient.  Anna Dewdney’s  entire series of Llama books are excellent tools, and they’re beautiful to boot.  (I’ll have a newer video up soon, but in the meantime, HERE’s a version of me performing “Red Pajama” at a birthday party.)

4.  Knuffle Bunny (and anything else by Mo Willems

Mo Willems is a versatile and entertaining illustrator and author.  Aside from the Knuffle Bunny series, he has other well loved children’s books such as the Elephant and Piggie stories, as well as his “Don’t let the Pigeon…” series of books.  It’s a healthy library to choose from, but I am forever a Knuffle Bunny girl at heart.  Nothing beats the story of a toddler who can’t yet talk trying to explain to her dad that they’ve left her stuffed animal Knuffle Bunny behind by saying “Aggle Flaggle Klabble!”  Even if your child isn’t talking yet, there seems to be a consistent identification with Trixie (Knuffle Bunny’s proud owner) amongst little ones, as well as a general commiseration amongst children when it comes to those silly grown-ups who don’t quite understand everything.  If you haven’t happened across a Mo Willems book yet, trust me: Knuffle Bunny is the way to go.

5.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This is a book loved by kids of all ages, as well as being one that they love for a considerable amount of time.  For the very young, it’s full of vibrant colors and easily identifiable objects, and as they grow, they will come to use the book for color identification, number identification, as well as learning about that classic story of the natural sciences: the life-cycle of the caterpillar/butterfly.  Besides the learning, children love identifying with the experience of eating too many cookies, ice cream, chocolate cake, and getting a tummy ache.  (Toss in a “yum yum” sound effect of your own during the eating sequences: trust me, it works every time.)  There’s also a whole line of games, activities and products sold in conjunction with this book that you can find online.

6.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; Illustrated by Lois Ehler

“A told B, and B told C…”  Is that what you were thinking when you read the title?  If you aren’t familiar with this book, you’re in for a treat.  It’s all about the day when the entire alphabet climbed up the Coconut Tree causing it to fall over with a big old “Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM!”  Absolutely nonsensical while completely adorable from the rhythm and rhyme to the personification of the letters, it’s a standout favorite among children.  (I personally have not written a song to this one, but I wasn’t surprised to find out that one already exists.  You can find it HERE.)

7.  This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt

This Jazz Man is a colorful book great for number and instrument identification, as well as, eventually, historical reference.  Karen Ehrhardt cleverly took the song “This Old Man” and changed up the lyrics for this book – “This Jazz Man, he plays one, he plays rhythm with his thumb…”.  Look on the non-fiction shelf in the kids section for this one.  Why?  Well because Karen has thoughtfully linked each “Jazz Man” in the song to an actual Jazz musician, and in the back of the book you’ll find a short biography on each man corresponding to their number.  Pretty cool, right?  A great one for the big kid, while the little ones will fall in love with the pictures in this book.  (I was fortunate enough to receive the rights to record it on my first CD.  You can view a slideshow of the book along with my song version HERE.)

8.  How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Yolen’s Dinosaur series is very popular, and with good reason!  They are adorable anecdotal books about how dinosaurs accomplish various tasks such as going to bed or eating their food. How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight questions the reader on every page as to what a (well behaved) Dinosaur does at bedtime, coupled with illustrations of human parents circa 1950 trying to put a “real” dinosaur to bed.  There’s great fun to be had with this book, especially saying “Noooooo!” after each question. (I am excited to say that I a recording of my song for this book will show up on my next album due out this summer, so stay tuned!)

9.  Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

I’m sure you remember this book from when you were a kid, and maybe even from the recent theatrical release.  A classic that I’ve enjoyed reading to children of all ages, everybody loves Max and his ability to use his Wild Thing imagination.  Even for the kids who don’t totally understand the book, it’s really fun when they start to embody their own take on the Wild Things (rather than be scared of them) and “Roar[ed] their terrible roars”, gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes and show their terrible claws.  And then, of course, there’s the “Wild Rumpus”: what could be better than an excuse to get up and jump in the midst of reading a book.  (And, yes, you guessed it, I made it into a song for all of those fun reasons.  Check it out HERE.)

10.  Fancy Nancy Series by Jane O’Connor & Robin Preiss Glasser

I get a lot of requests to put these books to song – they are very, very popular with our sparkle loving little girls. There is great identification going on here between our young friends and Fancy Nancy, who believes that lace-trimmed socks help her play soccer better, and that sandwiches taste better with toothpicks in them.  The original book in the series is incredibly sweet, illustrating Nancy’s belief in fanciness and her loving family’s indulgence in her desire to teach them to be fancy.  It has a minor conflict and resolution and ends with a whole lot of love: “I love you,” my dad says.  “I love you,” my mom says.  And all that’s said back is, “I love you.” Because there isn’t a fancy — or better– way of saying that.”

Honorable mentions:

1. Subway by Karen Katz & Anastasia Suen

This one is for the babies and toddlers.  It’s a simple board book about the NYC subway, with an easy rhyme and a bit of repetition.  A perfect NYC kid’s first book that I found out about when it was just requested that I write a song to go with it – and so I did.  It’ll be coming soon to Miss Nina TV on YouTube!

2. Miss Lina’s Ballerina’s by Grace Maccarone

Another new one of mine that will appeal to the Fancy Nancy fans.  This one is about eight ballerina’s who study dance with Miss Lina.   It’s told in a lovely rhyme, with pink pages and scenes of little girls dancing.  And then it all goes wrong when a ninth little girl comes to the school.  Oh no!  The girls who previously spent their time dancing in four lines of two must now learn now to dance in three rows of three.  See, a little math thrown in there! Very cute.

Miss Nina is a singer/songwriter and entertainer for children and their families and performs at private playgroups, bookstores, birthday parties, schools and events all over the NYC area.  She holds an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU and also teaches the Small Wonder program at Woodside Preschool part time.  Nina is currently providing  a free weekly children’s music video series on her website.  Visit www.mymissnina.com to join the list and get more information.