Book Review: Penny and Her Song

AB is a singer. She sings when she is playing. She sings when she is taking a bath. She sings when she is walking. She sing when she is brushing her teeth. She sings all the time. When she first started doing this, it was endearing. I thought, "Wow, my kid really loves music." The novelty of it soon wore off though as it began to wear off. So, we both identified with Penny and her parents in Kevin Henkes' new chapter book,  Penny and Her Song. AB is a big fan of Kevin Henkes. Her favorites are Chrysanthemum and Sheila the Brave. (Side note: I highly recommend the Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD with Meryl Streep reading Chrysanthemum. It is fantastic. It will really make you want to brush up on your read aloud skills.) The great thing about Kevin Henkes is that his illustrations are so distinct that AB will pick up his book based on recognition of his style, even if it is a new character to her. This is exactly what happened when she saw this book.

Penny is a young mouseling who comes home from school with a song that she can't wait to sing for her parents. But her parents tell her she cannot sing because she will wake up the babies. So she goes into her room to sing her song by herself, but she realizes that it just isn't as much fun without an audience. So she tries singing to herself in the mirror and to her toys, but that doesn't work either. At dinner, she tries to sing her song for her parents again, but they tell her that it is not the right time. Finally, after dinner, she is able to share her song with her family. Soon, everyone joins in (including the babies) and they give an impromptu performance complete with feather boas.

AB loved that there were lyrics that she could make up her own melody for, and I loved the gentle reminder that we need to make time to give our children our full attention as they share their excitement and interests. Sure, that song or dance or fascinating tidbit about lizards may get old after the 50th time. And it is definitely okay to set boundaries of when such sharing is appropriate. But, we need to make sure that we are putting down the smartphone/closing the laptop/turning off the television/putting down the book and shifting our uninterrupted focus to our kids. So, when AB sang Penny's song again (and again and again), I gave her my full attention and even joined in for the last round.