Fireside Song Book of Birds and Beasts, The

FIRESIDE SONG BOOK OF BIRDS AND BEASTS

Musical arrangements by Barbara Green

Illustrated by Peter Parnall

Simon & Schuster 1972

ISBN# LC 75-175047 S&S hardcover

This mammoth collection was my first song book. Babbie Green is a good friend and professional musician. (Her father, Johnny Green was a Hollywood composer and arranger.) We had a ball working on this. I picked all the songs, found the written music or sung it into a tape recorder and then Babbie worked her magic on the arrangements. I did all the historical research. Unfortunately it was the last book the children’s department at S&S published before going under. A number of years later, S&S reconstituted its department, but much too late for this book. The book was a New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year 1972, and a Literary Guild Book.

What reviewers have said:

• “A large step above the average song book, this collection has nothing trite or tired about it.”–Publishers Weekly