Nancy Stewart teaches listeners many awesome insect facts in Bee-Boppin' Bugs! This recording is great for longer car rides or a relaxed play time, since the song tempos range from upbeat boogey and rock songs, to ballads and lullabies. Instruments used include the piano, keyboard, pan flute, kazoo, triangle, tambourine, and small percussion instruments.

The music begins with a bang - or, I should say, a boogey! The title track, Bee-Boppin' Bugs has a boogie woogie beat, which is sure to get your little one moving and singing along with the background sounds of "ooos's" and "bop, bop, bop's". The rest of the album offers a huge array of musical genres, ranging from a ballad (Lovely Little Ladybug), a counting song (Five Green and Speckled Frogs), and even the Spanish song La Cucaracha, which includes verses sung in Spanish and English. Nancy puts a new spin on an old favorite, Itsy Bitsy Spider, by slowing down the tempo and adding a new verse, "Try little spider, try little friend/If at first don't succeed, you must try again." She also recycles old tunes in The Gift (Insect Song), which is the same tune as Partridge in a Pare Tree, and in Firefly, which is the same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Grasshoppers Three including Nancy singing in rounds, which is a wonderful musical concept to teach children, as it helps them learn to listen for more than one sound at a time.

The wonderful imagery in the songs, like Garden Party, is sure to stoke your little one's imagination; "The stars were shining, the moon was smiling/The leaves were glittering all around/The flowers swaying, the beetles playing/The air was full of sights and sounds." The songs will also evoke curiosity, so be prepared for questions! Bug Names offers excellent questions right down a child's alley, like wondering if a ladybug can be a man, if a dragonfly breathes fire, or if a daddy longlegs can be a mother. Listeners learn in Interesting Insects that a cricket's ears are on its knees, an ant can lift fifty times its own weight, a dragonfly has two pairs of wings, and so much more! You can make a game of this by asking your little one what sort of 'bug power' they would have if they were a bug; the answers are sure to be amusing! Ants in Your Pants is a lively melody, using a shaker and cowbell, and lyrics to encourage movement; "If you have ants in your pants, or fleas in your knees/And you feel like a wiggle worm/Come on along with me and you'll see at times/It's Ok to wiggle and squirm."

My three-year-old friend, Sam, is a bug fanatic, so he thought this CD was "The best thing ever created!" After hearing Days of the Dinosaurs, Sam wanted to know if bugs were really around with the dinosaurs. As soon as I answered 'yes', he had a million follow-up questions. Finally, he asked what dinosaurs did about mosquitoes since they didn't have fly swatters (his mom is constantly yielding a fly swatter in the summer).

--Audra

Nancy Stewart is a national award-winning musician who has been writing and performing for young children and their families for more than twenty years. This followed a successful fifteen year-long career as lead guitarist and vocalist with a nationally known show band. Featuring original and traditional songs, Nancy's CDs for children can be heard in schools, homes, and libraries across the country. Her music workshops for teachers, parents, and librarians have been highly praised for their relevant, useful, and easy to use songs and ideas.

Bee-Boppin' Bugs - 2:32

Garden Party - 3:21

Interesting Insects - 1:58

Lovely Little Ladybug - 3:40

The Gift (Insect Song) - 1:35

Five Green and Speckled Frogs - 1:54

Bug Names - 1:55

Days of the Dinosaurs - 3:16

La Cucaracha - 2:44

Firefly - 4:01

Itsy Bitsy Spider - 1:20

Ants in Your Pants - 2:30

Binny the Worm - 2:04

Grasshoppers Three - 1:34