Pam Donkin's charming smile can be heard throughout this album as she joyously leads us through each song.  There is topnotch instrumentation in the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and keyboard sounds that create the melody frameworks for these wonderful songs, but Pam's sweet, kind gentle voice, though soft in nature, comes rising through and above the instruments to command and lead the songs, never overpowered by the music.  Pete Seeger, the grand father of the idea that song can change the world for the better must be feeling totally vindicated when he hears the songs in this album!  As a reading teacher and singer, I try to use songs at times as teaching tools to indentify main ideas and details.  Songs, with their choruses (main idea statements) and verses (supporting details) are highly effective ways for kids to build up these reading skills.  And just as important, the songs can support values and, in the lyrics, teach us important lessons.  Pam instinctively knows this and offers us these messages, gently couched in wonderful music.  It's no great surprise, once you've heard A Hop, Skip, and a Jump, that this is a 4 award-winning album!  I could go on and on.  I love this album!  for me, it's a "Got to have it!" cd.  (Main idea).  The music, with all its variety, is wonderful!  Songs like "Kindness Is Everywhere," "Families all Over the World (are just like yours and mine),"
and "Planting Seeds of Love" are far beyond excellent in their messages for all of us. (Details)!  This album has everything.  Songs that teach us kindness and love, acceptance of other folks, no matter the color of skin, songs that share reverence for Grandmother Earth, and songs that make us want to clap and dance and sing along---and we do!
And Pam ends with a wonderful lullaby, in many ways like Malvina Reynolds' "Morning Town Ride."  Any positive comparison with that song is a huge compliment.  And this one is totally heart-felt.  Pam, Thanks for this album!
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Wow! Banjo, Fiddle, Keyboard, velvet vocals! I can't wait to use this awesome CD in my first grade classroom! "Clap Your Hands Now" is a great dancing tune-good for transitions and getting the blood flowing. "Gotta Get the Beat" gets us breathing too, with a natural use of rhythm & rhyme. I love all the songs on this must-have CD!!
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Pam is a treasure, sweet and real.  Whenever someone wants my recommendation for "just the right" music for a daycare, pre-k teacher or just their own young ones, this is the CD I suggest.  I love the computer extras and the bonus video for EWOP, so cool...buy two (one for a gift!).
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Hop, Skip, and a Jump is awesome. SO charming! You really have an amazing ability to sound like the friendliest lady ever, without ever sounding condescending or saccharine – and so many people that record for the really little ones sound that way. You are absolutely sincere, and it’s so charming.
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