I knew Mary when she and I lived in Nashville, and always admired her work. Her voice is perfect for children and even though she passed away last year, her songs and spirit live on in this wonderful recording.
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In balladeer style, Mary Lafleur gives familiar tales such as "The Little Red Hen" and "Chicken Little" a rhythmic, pleasing musical spin, tells "plucky, playful and wiggly" riddles and recites her own poems, with their images to toothy icicles, sleeping bears, fiery skies, and slipping, dripping drops of rain.
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A menagerie of "Songs, Riddles & Poetry you may remember indefinitely," Pink Elephants is a charming preschool album. Sweet-voiced Lafleur, who worked with homeless children in Nashville, skillfully intersperses her folk-based songs with original poetry and riddles, just right for the typically brief preschool attention span. Lafleur's music is melodic and easy to learn. Her poetry, though, is what makes this album utterly charming, calling to mind masters of the form such as Eileen Fisher, Jack Prelutsky, and Even Merriam. And Lafleur's riddles are just the thing, when solved, to give young minds a supreme sense of accomplishment.
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I wrote "Even Mirriam." Yikes. It should be "Eve Mirriam." Sorry.
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