In addition to being the world’s most accomplished writer of custom songs, I’m also really into books, and I’m a former teacher. Add all of that together and you’ve got a prime candidate to provide music for a children’s story time!

McIntyre’s Books, where I work as a bookseller, has an incredibly popular story time twice a week. Kids range in age from babes in arms to the occasional elementary schooler. Every now and again I will reset my  teacher skills and do the entire story time, but usually I’m happy to be the music guy.

Each story time has a theme. At first I tried to find related songs, but quickly figured out that it was actually easier to write a song about the week’s topic (usually an animal) than it was to dig around for an appropriate and relevant tune. The storytime songs are usually appreciated, but the big hit every week is the song that I close with, in which I request that the audience “Jump jump up and down.” It’s not exactly poetry, but you should see the reaction!

Recently, the kids surprised me with some special coloring sheets, and I thought I’d share some of them here. I mean, how could I not?