is a children’s music CD that uses simple rhythms and drumbeats to move unsuspecting two-to-six year-olds toward learning the alphabet, the alphabet letter sounds, how to count numbers and how to rhyme words.

The letter sounds are spoken to music created on the Djembe, a West African drum traditionally used for dancing. They are also spoken to a hip-hop rhythm created on a drum set. Miss Lucy Lion, a kindergarten schoolteacher, loves teaching the letter sounds to the drum, man’s first musical instrument. The drum’s simplicity reminds her of many wonderful early forms of percussion: a mother’s heartbeat, a baby shaking its rattle, a toddler striking pots and pans, children hand clapping and foot stomping. When children hear the drumming, they move, they dance, they feel joyful. Learning the letter sounds naturally comes later. The drum enlivens their spirits, plus many children play their own percussive instruments along with the drumming. In addition to the drums, the acoustic guitar accompanies the letter sounds on “Ritmo Latino,” where Latino American children are encouraged to learn the letter sounds in English.

The title song, “A Lion’s Grocery List,” enables children to immediately participate in their learning by roaring throughout this jazz inspired alphabet song. Children may color the animals on Miss Lucy Lion’s grocery list and proudly hang their poster, studying it daily. The “Vowel Boogie” helps children remember the short vowel sounds through repetition and word association. In “Trekking,” Miss Lucy Lion travels instrumentally from home to school by ox wagon. On “Kiswahili Numbers,” children count from one to ten in Swahili, the most widely spoken language of eastern Africa. “Seafood Stew” is a recipe for counting by ones, twos, threes, fives, tens and twenty-fives. Making the stew is not only a fun way for children to learn how to count, but also to learn how to group objects and to multiply. With drums sounding like those at a football game, children are sure to make the connection between letter sounds and creating words, as they go through each cheer in “The Rhyming Bees.”

“ A Lion’s Grocery List” is a perfect blend between fantasy and reality. Children have long fancied being wild beasts and exotic animals. Now these little pretenders may happily sing and dance, jungle style, as they learn the vital skills necessary for reading achievement and lifelong academic success.