The timeless song, Over the Rainbow, sung by the legendary Judy Collins has now been transformed in to a beautiful book that any young child would be happy to own. Included with the book is a three-song CD all sung by Judy Collins which includes ‘Over the Rainbow’, ‘I See the Moon’ and ‘White Coral Bells’.

I was beyond excited to find out that I was receiving a copy of this book to review. The illustration on the front cover alone drew me in and I have become very fond of books that include music as I find it is a great way to spark young imaginations while introducing them to music and reading.

The first time Baby Bird and I sat down to read the book, we played the CD at the same time. The book in itself is beautiful to look at, but reading the book while listening to Judy Collins sing the song brings the pages to life.

The story line of the book is based on the first verse to “Over the Rainbow” which, even though it was originally recorded by Judy Collins, was never actually used in the film, The Wizard of Oz. It goes like this, “When all the world is a hopeless jumble and the raindrops tumble all around, Heaven opens a magic lane. When all the clouds darken up the skyway, there’s a rainbow highway to be found, Leading from your window pane to a place behind the sun, just a step beyond the rain.”

I have to admit, this book made me tear up a couple of times (especially when I played the music and read the book at the same time). It’s full of wonder and imagination and I had tears because it took me back to a time when I was younger and daydreams were a daily occurrence for me. Now that I am older, and I’m the ‘adult’, I don’t get those opportunities as often as I would like. I thought about Baby Bird and how happy I am that she still has so many years of adventure and innocence ahead of her. So I’d say they were tears of happiness.

The illustrations are beautiful paintings by Eric Puybaret who has illustrated a number of wonderful books. I am told that the artwork was painted on linen and then scanned. The paintings are so soft and flow so beautifully across the page. It takes the reader out of the daily grind to that magical place that you can only imagine, somewhere over the rainbow.

This book will be released in March 2010, but you can pre-order and buy this book online at Amazon.ca or at Amazon.com. This is a great chance to introduce your child to classic music that never goes out of style.

McAllister Rowan Communications has generously offered to give two (2) of my readers one (1) copy of this book each as a giveaway…

To enter: Leave a comment at the end of this post telling me what your favorite book as a child was. Please also leave a way of getting a hold of you should you win. *You must do this for any additional entries to count.

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This contest is open to US and Canadian residents and runs until 12pm MST on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

* I received a copy of this book for free to complete my review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine only and are in no way influenced by any outside factors.