Customer Reviews

How Sweet the Sound: African-American Songs for Children, with Cassette

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Beautiful tape of music to introduce to your children. Some songs are instrumental. Includes songs such as "Miss Mary Mack," "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud," "Lift Every Voice," "Kumbaya," etc. The book has the words with wonderful illustration of Black children. No sheet music, but a few arrangements are included.

This is an excellent book. I have used it with preshcoolers ages 3 - 5 as an introduction to the evolution of Afro-American music. The children and the teachers love it! I found this book and cassette tape to be a wonderful teaching source. I am disappointed it is not available.

This is a nice book for parents to read with children and for the classroom. Teachers and parents should be aware that children and youth need guidance and encouragement to select music with a positive message. This is a good basis for a short lesson to children in positive music. The poetic legacy of African Americans is a positive, rich source of cultural expression. Much of the hip hip dwells on the negative, introducing children and youth to misogynic ideas and profanity. By steering childen in the right musical and poetic direction, it will help them to find joy in positive musical expression. This is an essential lesson, and this is a fine book for that purpose. I would encourage school libraries and classrooms to carry How Sweet the Sound: African-American Songs for Children.

See also,
Pass It On: African American Poetry for Children