The creativity in Roberts' melodies, rhymes, and lyrics make each song feel like a new adventure. Way Out is an upbeat tropic-sounding song about animals. It features a camel named Samuel who wants to live in the deep blue sea, and a starfish wants to be a carfish. Roller in the Coaster takes listeners on a crazy ride, and includes the unique sound of a Zither (a stringed instrument); Backyard Spaceship builds a spaceship out of snow; and you can hear a fun new take on an old nursery rhyme in Humpty's at in Again. The rockin' electric guitar opening the pop-rock song Picture Day will certainly catch your child's attention, and he or she may be able to relate to mom and dad fussing over them and making them wear silly clothes on school picture day too! Losing teeth is an always-exciting subject for kids, so they can fully appreciate the singer's concern in I Lost the Tooth when he literally cannot locate his tooth anywhere in the house in order to cash it in to the tooth fairy. Suppertime slows down the tempo for a slow ballad featuring the harmonica, but the humor and creativity is still abundant as the narrator of the song explains that it's "time to let Dad tell bad jokes."
The songs are filled with repetition and easy sound effects for your child to join in on. They can sing the "aaaa aaa aaaaaah" in Airplane of Food, "no no no nano no na na"s in Doctor, Doctor, "Oh oh oh oh"s and "mmm mmm mmm"s in Best Friend, or the more technical "D-a-y-c-a-m-p" and, "d-d-d-day camp" in the song Daycamp. The songs are likely to inspire stories from little listeners. Does your child remember going to the doctor? Did they get ice cream after a shot too? Have they ever built a spaceship in the backyard? (you'll be surprised how many say "yes"). Do they mark their height on a wall to see how much they've grown? Do they have a best friend? If you child doesn't offer up stories on their own, you can prompt them with questions or tell one of your own to get them started.
I listened to this CD with my four-year-old niece, Emily. After the Best Friend song Emily asked me if you can really have more than one best friend. "Of course" I told her, "You can have as many as you want." That made her quite happy, and she spent the next 20 minutes telling me all of her best friends who, coincidentally, also happen to be every person she knows. I called the game off when she listed the postman.
--Audra