Artists:
Bruce Roberts
Capathia Jenkins
Danny Grae
Diana B
Downtown Vocals
Joe Teig
Lyne Tremblay
Mandy Peek
Sir Spliff Richard

CDs:
"A Celebration of The American Farm"
"break 'n enter"
"Come From Around The World"
"Freddy the Teddy, Volume I"
"I Heart New York" Souvenir CD
"The Spirit of Christmas"

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About the author:
      Diana B has produced  material for children  throughout her 
entire career.  She  has written  arrangements for  children’s records  produced by Allan &  Bacon of Boston,  co-authored songs  and score for  Rudolph the  Rednosed Reindeer  and the Island of  Misfit Toys (Good  Times Productions),  co-authored songs  and score for Little Red Riding Hood  (Tag roductions), composed many  songs for musicals  produced at family-oriented  Hershey Park by  Allan Albert  Productions, and has  produced a children’s  record, The Spirit of  Christmas, featuring  all the songs  performed at Hershey  Park and also a Christmas Carol  medley.
     She also has  extensive teaching  experience, including 
 teaching music grades 1-7, freshman  harmony and  orchestration on the  college level, and was also an editor/ arranger of children’s books and music at Allyn &  Bacon.

Diana's thoughts on teaching reading:
     I’m sure you’ll agree that learning to read is one of the most important goals for every child.  How then does listening to stories help this occur?
     As the famous educator Silvia Ashton-Warner discovered, it is much easier for a child to learn how to read a word when the word is already in the child’s vocabulary.  How many times have you heard a child, involved in a spelling bee, ask, "Can I hear it in a sentence"?  Hearing the usage helps the young contestant recognize the word, and this recognition makes it easier to understand how to spell it.
     Accordingly, the reason listening to stories helps a child learn is because the child must first learn the word and know what it means before the actual word can be read. 
     So, when listening to stories, a child will understand most, but not all of the words.  However, those words which are new to the child will be somewhat understood because of their usage and placement in a sentence.  Some words may be incomprehensible at first, but if heard often enough, will then become familiar, at least with regard to usage.
     I never "talk down" to a child, but instead try to use a real vocabulary.  For the most part, I use ordinary words, but occasionally will throw in what Mark Twain would have called a "twenty-dollar" word - a word far beyond a young listener’s comprehension.  Because the word is heard in context it will be vaguely understood, and will also challenge the imagination of the child.
     This is because there are really three levels of vocabulary in play.  The first level is the "very easy" level, words all children know.  The second level is the "familiar" level - words they know or are able to understand without too much trouble.  The third level is the "difficult" level - words far beyond what they have heard before.  By incorporating an occasional word from the difficult level, it will become, if not comprehensible, at least recognizable to the child.
     For example, in the Rain Song, there is a lyric:  "Do not be afraid of precipitation...what’s precipitation?"
     A good question, and hopefully someone will know, or look it up, or surmise what it is from the rest of the song lyric - in any case, because the word is part of the song, it is now part of the child’s vocabulary!
     Of course, the learning of vocabulary by listening to the stories is an unconscious acquisition, because the stories themselves are warm, fuzzy and entertaining - your child won’t even know he or she is learning - he’ll be engrossed in the stories or songs, and learning will be automatic - but of course, that’s the best way to learn!

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