Songs in the Shade of the Flamboyant Tree: French Creole Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes

Thirty French Creole children’s songs, popular throughout the Caribbean, are given a vibrant and rich treatment in this book-plus-CD package. The songs get their own pages or spreads, labeled with the islands from which they originate and the track numbers that correspond to the CD. Corvaisier’s stylized paintings are rendered in a vivid tropical palette, joined by a brief excerpt of each rhyme in English. The rhymes appear in full at the end of the book, both in English and French Creole, along with extensive contextual notes. A sense of joy radiates from both the book and the accompanying musical performances. Ages 2–7. (June)