Sweet Sounds Celebrate the Wonders of Nature

Audio

Heart-Shaped Rocks. Pamela Jay Productions. CD: $15; cassette: $10. Ages 4 to 10. www.pamelajay.com

Singer-songwriter Pamela Jay finds magic in sunsets, high-flying hawks, nature’s natural rhythms--and heart-shaped rocks down by the creek. With her clear, strong voice and conversational style, Jay shares her sense of wonder. Her tender, well-tailored songs are an invitation to young listeners to think beyond the hurry-up, noise-filled, carpool rush of daily routine to discover the living world around them and their place in it.

1000 Pennies. Norman Foote. Shoebox Music Box. CD: $14; cassette: $10. Ages 4 to 10. www.normanfoote.com

One of the quirkier children’s artists, singer-songwriter and guitarist Norman Foote--like Raffi, a Canadian import--is showing his soulful side on this well-crafted, sweet-to-the-ear new release.

Foote, with his mellow, fine-tuned jazz sensibility and gift for imagery, waxes poetic about the security of a cozy snuggle with mom and dad, dreaming of being a singing policeman, the glow of kindergarten accomplishments and idyllic blackberry-picking memories of July. Foote’s offbeat side shows up, too, in “Circus Boy” (“Hello people, my name is Michael / That’s my daddy on the unicycle”) and especially in his explanation for certain frequently misplaced items, “Lost Umbrellas and Odd Socks.”

Another winner: Foote’s recent “Step to It” CD, with such gems as a rockabilly “Window Washer Man,” a bluesy take on “Wheels on the Bus.”