Courtesy: The Secret Mountain
This June, children’s entertainer Hilary Grist will release her new book Tomorrow is a Chance to Start Over. The book, which is set to be released Monday, June 1st via The Secret Mountain, is a great bedtime story for any young reader and his or her parents. The main reason for this is the story itself. The story centers on two young children–Ira and Isabelle–who can’t get to sleep. The brother and sister can’t sleep because of the noise from the city outside their room. So they end up using their imaginations to sail off to another place, a relaxing place, that leads them to relax and fall asleep. It’s a short story but a wonderful and imaginative story nonetheless. The story by itself is just one part of what parents and chidlren will appreciate about this book. The illustrations (so to speak) add to the story’s enjoyment. That’s because they aren’t necessarily even illustrations in the classic sense of the word. And last but not leat worth noting of the book is its companion CD. The companion CD isn’t just an audio reading of the book. It does feature an audio reading of the book. But along with that reading are ten musical tracks that will lull any young child to sleep. Each element on its own gives plenty of reason for audiences to add this book to their child’s library. Collectively, they make Tomorrow is a Chance to Start Over one of this year’s best new releases for children overall.
Tomorrow is a Chance to Start Over is one of this year’s best new releases for children. It is a great addition to any child’s personal library of books. In examining the book in whole, it proves this in a number of ways. The main way that it proves this is through the story itself. Grist doesn’t just come out and say it, but her main aim with the story presents is to motivate young children to close their eyes and dream of a calm, quiet place as a means to relax and go to sleep. She does this by telling how Ira and his sister Isabelle go off to their own quiet place to escape the noise of the city. What is most interesting about Grist’s story is that she doesn’t clearly explain that the kids have closed their eyes and in reality used their imaginations to create that quiet place. But any grown up will easily make the connection. Just as interesting is how Grist wrote the book. She didn’t just write a short story about two children relaxing in their own quiet place. Her writing style and use of words together especially encourage young children to relax and go to sleep. She wrote of their journey, “Waves rose and fell as miles drifted by. Lit by a lantern and a moon-kissed sky. ” The rising and falling of the waves is insinuated as being gentle. The imagery of the soft light of the moon in the sky and the lantern in the boat is equally calming. It’s just one example of how her writing style and use of words work so well in settling children at bed time. The rest of the story is ripe with examples. Parents and children will see those examples for themselves when they add this book to their own child’s personal library. They will also see that said writing style and use of words is just part of what makes the book so enjoyable. The book’s “illustrations” play their own part in the book’s enjoyment, too.
The story presented in Grist’s new book by itself will impress parents thanks to Grist’s smart writing style and use of calming imagery and words overall. The “illustrations” play an interesting part in the book’s enjoyment, too. That is because the illustration’s aren’t necessarily illustrations in the classic sense of the word. Ira and Isabelle look more like small dolls or even claymation figures. Their surroundings look like model sets. The two elements are set together and photographed to help bring the story to life. It’s an interesting approach that admittedly this critic has never really seen used for a book, children’s or otherwise. It is possible that such an approach has been used before. But at least in the case of this critic, it comes across as something quite original. That originality makes the experience of the story even fuller. They don’t really do much in the way of helping children fall asleep more easily. But they will entertain said young audiences. So to that extent, the pictures used to “illustrate” the story and bring it to life prove themselves just as important to the story in whole as the story itself.
Both the story and the pictures incorporated into Hilary Grist’s new book play their own important parts in the book’s enjoyment as parents will see for themselves in reading this book to their own children. They will also fin that the companion CD that comes with the book is just as important to the whole presentation. The disc features not just an audio reading of the book but ten separate musical tracks to boot. The audio reading is just as enjoyable as the book for so many reasons. Grist actually reads the book to her young audiences herself in the CD’s lead track. The gentility in her approach is itself so calming in its own right. The equally subtle use of music and sound effects in the background makes the story all the richer and more enjoyable for children and parents alike. The stand-alone musical tracks offer their own enjoyment, too. There are folk elements to the songs as well as soft lullabies and even a light jazz piece among so much more. Through it all, Grist’s own vocal style and the equally soft music together maintain such a soft tone that the two together will have any young listeners asleep in no time. It may even cause some parents to start yawning, too. That is meant in the most positive manner possible. That ability to encourage sleep among both grown-ups and children alike more than makes Dream Songs a welcome addition to Grist’s new book. Everything noted here taken into consideration, Dream Songs shows along with Tomorrow is a Chance to Start Over that the two elements together make this set one of the best new children’s releases of the year.
Tomorrow is a Chance to Start Over will be available in stores Monday, June 1st. Parents can pre-order the book online now via Hilary Grist’s official website at http://hilarygrist.com. More information on the book/CD set is available along with her latest tour dates and news both there and her official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/hilarygristmusic. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.
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