Under a Shady Tree

Winner of: 2003 Gold N.A.P.P.A. Award; 2002 Parents' Choice Silver Honor Award; 2004 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award and 2003 Children's Music Web Award.

From the reggae-tinged title track to the light blues of "Drive My Car" to the irresistible tease of "I'm Gonna Catch You" and at all stops in between, the 20 tracks on Laurie Berkner's fourth record for kids dance off the disc and into the imagination, with a Goldilocks just-right ratio of silly ("Do the Dragon") and serious ("I'm Me and You're You"). Driving home her reputation as an Ani DiFranco for kids is the earthy "Running Down the Hill." "Shortnin' Bread," the Southern traditional, will compel kids to tie on aprons and tap their way across the kitchen floor. The Hawaiian thank-you number "Mahalo" and the Eastern "Boody Boody Ya Ya Ya" draw upon world music, but otherwise, Berkner's days of shaking her noodle head (a favorite dance ditty off an earlier disc) to the delight of 2-year-olds seem numbered. That's not to say Shady Tree's canopy doesn't extend to the sippy-cup crowd, only that Berkner's branching out. --Tammy La Gorce