It's Time to throw a Family Party with Music from Sandra Boynton's "Blue Moo" Album!

Hurry, put on your dancing shoes! Haven't you heard the news? It's party time for the whole family! Parents, grandparents and children alike will groove to the music of the late 20th century as they dance to fun lyrics in the styles of music from the 1950s. Blues, rock, jazz, and ballroom dance are all in the mix.

What can possibly get a whole family enjoying each other while they move to music that appeals to them all? It's a special album called Bloo Moo:17 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never. The art in the book is by beloved cartoonist and children's book illustrator, Sandra Boynton. The lyrics are by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford. The artists singing the music have been famous in the late 20th century ~ Sha Na Na, Neil Sadaka, Steve Lawrence, B.B. King, and Patti Lupone, to name a few.

The book tells the story of Sandra Boynton's relationship with music, and the illustrations that accompany the adorable lyrics to the songs are hers. The music CD that accompanies the book will get your family moving around the living room on a snowy day. My favorite track is the one with Patti Lupone singing the Rabbit Tango . My daughter loves Singin' in the Shower, sung by Christopher Kale Jones. The title song, Blue Moo, is sung by Steve Lawrence.

Blue Moo:17 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never is a fun way to engage in aerobic exercise and learn about your relatives and friends. The lyrics of the music appeal to children and the styles are familiar to several generations of adults. Here are some ideas for ways to introduce the music on this album:

1. Rainy Day Exercise: Play it at home on a rainy day to keep your body moving. Dancing to this album is a wonderful way to exercise. Our friends introduced this album to us 4 or 5 years ago and my husband ran out to buy it at Borders Books and Music the following day. We have listened to the music over and over, especially during festive gatherings.

2. Party Music: Play it at birthday parties and family reunions. It's a fun ice-breaker when you get together with relatives that you have not seen in a very long time. There are calmer songs on it, too, to balance off the more energetic numbers.

3. Games: It's a fabulous album to use for games, such as "hot potato" and "musical chairs." It could even be fun to listen to while you play "Twister." And, it can be great motivational music for cleaning up after the gaming is done.

4. Inter-generational Sharing: We brought it down to my mother's house in Virginia when we visited her for the Thanksgiving holiday that year, and she enjoyed listening to it with my daughter while they looked at the book together. So did my aunt, uncle, and cousins.

Children can listen to the album with their grandparents and ask them about heir memories of the music by the same artists when they first heard it played on the radio. The grandparents could play other music by the same artists on the album, and compare them.

5. Cultural research: Children can learn about what types of dress and foods were popular when the recording artists were first recording their songs in the decades that the song styles represent, and could dress up in those styles to dance to the song. They could listen to other examples of a tango dance, or compare the "marching band" song to the songs played by the marching band at their school.

We hope that you will consider ordering this album and that you enjoy it for years to come. It's a wonderful way to spend time together, strengthening the bonds of kinship and friendship ~ laughing, playing, and enjoying each other.