A Book of Songs

Tong Yao La La La (童谣啦啦啦）ISBN: 9864186299   I am almost ashamed that I had not recommended this book until now.  Although we have tried several books focused on songs and lyrics, this one is by far our favorite.  Both kids have grown up with it and have learned the 18 children's songs in it.

Now, I do believe a parent's choice of songs to sing to her kids is very personal and is dependent on her own background.  A song you enjoyed in your childhood is likely to become enjoyable again when you share it with kids, even if you intentionally turned away from it over many years of adulthood.  I happened to grow up in Taiwan with a Japanese grandmother, so the songs in this particular book are perfect because they are either traditional children's songs throughout the last 40+ years in Taiwan (and possibly other Chinese-speaking countries) like Liang Zhi Lao Hu, or songs translated to Chinese from traditional Japanese children's songs.  You will very likely prefer a different set of songs, and thus a different book.  I would thus like to focus on some features of this book that I especially like.

- A CD of all the songs is included.  Each song is sung once in its original melody, spoken once (with background accompaniment), and sung again the third time.  The recordings are clear, and the kids really enjoy this CD.
- The book contains 18 short songs - we can easily go through the entire book in <5 minutes, singing every song at least once
- Each turn of the page contains one song with lyrics in large print, and a very cute and clear picture relevant to that song
- The end of the book has a few pages for the parents, suggesting gestures or games to go along with each song.  I haven't followed these, but have developed my own set of gestures to go with every song, and it is so much fun watching the kids go through them with me together
- The songs cover enough of what I consider the "classics" from my childhood, but avoids the patriotic or military ones

The publisher is http://www.acmebooks.com.tw/ - they seem to have an online ordering process, and if you can figure out how to get them shipped to the U.S. from Taiwan, I would love to know!

Oh, and here are the songs:
- Ding Zi, Xiao Mao, Gou (钉子,小猫,狗)
- Ba Luo Bo (拔萝卜)
- Shuo Ha Luo (说哈罗)
- Tou Er Jian Bang Xi Jiao Zhi (头儿肩膀膝脚趾)
- Cai Quan Ge (猜拳歌)
- Huo Che Kuai Fei (火车快飞)
- Zao Fei Ji (造飞机)
- Liang Zhi Lao Hu (两只老虎)
- Da Xiang (大象)
- Ha Ba Gou (哈巴狗)
- Mu Ya Dai Xiao Ya (母鸭带小鸭)
- Yu Er Yu Er Shui Zhong You (鱼儿于儿水中游)
- Hu Die (蝴蝶)
- Wai Po Qiao (外婆桥)
- Mei Mei Bei Zhe Yang Wa Wa (妹妹背着洋娃娃)
- Xiao Xing Xing (小星星)
- Ma Ma De Yan Jing (妈妈的眼睛)
- Xia Yu (下雨)