Everything Grows

The prolific and popular children's entertainer celebrates the many ways in which living things grow through written lyrics--accompanied by illustrations of children of different races and various scenes from nature--and songs on CD.

PreS- Gr 2-- This book uses full-color photos to illustrate the lyrics of one of Raffi's loveliest songs: ``A blade of grass, fingers and toes,/ Hair on my head,/ A red, red, rose./ Everything grows, anyone knows . . .'' Unfortunately, the photos have a contrived look; that they show child-oriented objects (puppies, corn on the cob, dandelion fluff) and faces from several races compensates only a little. Like the song's lyrics, they are simple, direct, and warm; but they are shallow and belie the deeper meaning of the words. Lyrics and the song's melody line (transcribed with three sharps--very difficult for beginning musicians to play), with simple guitar chords, appear on the final page. This effort does not stand on its own as a picture book, nor does it do justice to the song it represents. --Liza Bliss, Worcester Public Library, MA

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